I played an opponent with a bear flute deck yesterday, and a random fresh deck of mine. I hadn’t seen a flute deck in action so I suggested 3 chains. This was countered by 5 and I let them play it.

They absolutely annihilated me. They got 1st player and mulligan into flute, had 2 bears up on round 2 and kept recycling them. I couldn’t keep any creatures out, and had no artifact control.

My question is, how do I best anticipate a decks effectiveness from a minute of looking at a deck list? What are your key takeaways when comparing it to yours when you bid chains?

In hindsight, my deck was woefully mismatched against their flute, not just because the flute, and I couldn’t put my finger on it.

Thoughts on chain bidding strategies?

Bidding chains with a known versus a blind deck seems like a bad idea in general, but if the deck's owner is bidding high to play it, then there's a good chance they know something you don't. The best way to counteract the known deck owner's advantage is for you to play that deck. If you let them play it, get them to at least take a 2 card handicap (7+ chains) to start.

Some cards can dissolve chains, so if an owner of a deck suggests a number, then counter it with a higher number 😉

Amazing how a game, that hasnt been out yet for 3 weeks, gets already decks with "suggested" chains. I would wait for FFG to settle this once they get their chain policy setup.

And, playing sealed would solve your issues, and offer more interesting play instore ?

I find that people in general will pick their best deck rather than play sealed 😕

I'd say find other players then? I have no interested in playing other people's best decks. I find it is against the very idea of the game.

12 minutes ago, Seawhale said:

I'd say find other players then? I have no interested in playing other people's best decks. I find it is against the very idea of the game.

What if a player only owns one deck? It would be, by default, their best deck.

3 hours ago, Poposhka said:

I find that people in general will pick their best deck rather than play sealed 😕

I actually love the idea of sealed tournaments. It would be very fun to open a new deck and sit down and play KeyForge. and when you come home you can add another deck to your collection. 😉

I feel this is one of those things that will be solved as the game ages, since decks will gain recommended chains and even if they haven't earned them players should be able to recognize certain combinations and have a moderate idea of what they should bid.

I would recommend that any time you see a deck that has the ability to forge keys outside of the forge key step and enough cards to enable the deck to generate enough aember to forge a key in one turn, that you try to get them to start with 10+ chains. This will at least have them drawing 2 less cards for the first couple turns. The higher you can get it, the better.

Once decks like this hit their combo the game is over.

Untamed and Mars are the biggest culprits of this so always be on the lookout for it when you see those houses.

Here is a link that gives a decent starting point in what to look out for.

16 hours ago, Ishi Tonu said:

Untamed and Mars are the biggest culprits of this so always be on the lookout for it when you see those houses.

Don't forget Key of Darkness...

They should be compiling enough data that they could apply chains based upon combinations of cards.

Decks with X,Y & Z have 1000 to 1 win lose rate. Thus applying chains to even unopened deck.

They could do this. But they probably will not.