I'm not claiming these ideas are my own, but this is how I'd set up chains in competitive.

1. Assign chains to specific cards . For example: Bait and Switch is discovered to be strong, so give it a chain
2. Assign chains to existing combos in a deck. If card X has card Y in the same deck, that should add a chain.
3. Use fractional chains to assign values to cards or combos that aren't powerful enough to warrant a full chain, i.e. assign this combo/ card 0 .5 chains.
4. Using the digital app to sum up the total number of chains in your deck and round down for fractional chains.
5. If you show up at a competitive event, scan in your QR code, and the app will tell you the number of chains you have during this event -- (important to automate this)

Thoughts?

I'm pretty sure that's what FFG will do with the app. They already do something similar with X-Wing, so it seems entirely probably that they would port that concept over to Keyforge.

There are some other ways to implement chains depending on the format you're playing.

FFG controling starting chains by compiling data will have some growing pains but it would be a decent solution for a "Bring your own deck" event.

If you do a random event where everyone just buys a deck and plays you could do something to spice it up as the decks are untested and nobody knows how they will perform. Maybe you do a chain bidding auction after opening them up and just seeing the houses.

Or give a player a chain after they win a game and the chains are cumlative, so by the end of 4 rounds, someone that is 4-0 has 4 chains to start their 5th game.

Chain balancing looks pretty flexible and able to adapt to whatever format you play the game in.

I would prefer if they created a supervised learning algorithm for the chains based on numerous decks' performance with the application after a million games or so. It is likely the algorithm will end up being super complicated to perform by hand but could be the most accurate way to balance things.

Chains on combos results in situations where someone buying their first deck for a sealed event would have to suffer these consequences as a surprise because they didn't know their deck contained penalized card combos. That is a negative play experience. Additionally, not everyone is going to have/use the app.

A deck described in a local meta as busted and getting starting chains would be frustrating for that player, but understandable. The chain betting system for individual matches of paired-up powerful decks sounds great, because the choices are made by the deck owners for their own deck.

Fractional chains by 0.5 functionally doubles the amount chains. The chain counter going up to 48 from 24 would be an dynamic increase. This also doubles the amount of chain increments that affect how many card you draw, whether views as fractional or double. Would half a chain still cost a card and functionally double the relevant chain values? Or would the first 0.5 chain not reduce cards drawn and still double the relevant chain values, but only make every other increment affect gameplay?

From where originate the submissions of deck and combo chain petitions to the app? If it is the local meta, then that means they can affects performance when playing in an entirely different meta. If it is the performance of the deck itself as calculated by an algorithm from organized play, then there is penalty for successfully playing a deck regardless of where.

At every one of these steps, there is increased steps to play, which can increase perceived difficulty. After opening the first deck ever and scanning, one must now make note of any penalized card combinations. It can either be played with the penalty, invest time and effort right before the event to understand why the combo was chained, or the staff/other attendees which might affect the surprise element of the game. Then they new half chain calculator is used to understand the effects of playing the deck.

Go to another state to visit friends and we all participate in a Keyforge Tournament. The TO scans the code. The deck profile was recently updated and the player learns that the app now applies 4 chains to their deck because it crushed the meta back home. Alternatively the app sees that the people played decided the deck deserved hindrances and submitted enough requests to get those chains applied. 2 card combos in the deck also recently received +1 chain to their use. This is a negative play experience.

I think the decision for chains should remain between two players before the match when bidding, because it is self-imposed. Also, simply adding chains to your favorite deck when playing casual is great as it is still your decision. They can also simply choose not to play you until you do, s they are outside of the constraints of organized play.