KeyForge: Dark Tidings Deluxe Archon Deck

The fifth set of Archon Decks for KeyForge.

Each Dark Tidings Deluxe Deck contains a single, ready-to-play 36-card deck, bringing together three of the diverse Houses of the Crucible into a single deck, featuring its own mix of cards and unique from every other Archon Deck in existence. You’ll also find all of the tokens that you need for a single player to start playing the game of KeyForge!

Bursting onto the scene with the addition over 250 brand-new cards into the remixed cardpool, Dark Tidings pushes the possibilities to their breaking point and brings billions more unique decks to the forefront. Each of these decks is completely unlike any that have come before, and with the addition of a brand-new faction, the shifting tides of the Crucible, and the concept of evil twin decks, Dark Tidings offers its own twist on what you have come to expect from KeyForge.

Just as with earlier sets, there are plenty of ways for you to get started playing KeyForge with Dark Tidings. If you’re already playing, you’ll want an assortment of Dark Tidings Archon Decks, each offering a ready-to-play unique deck. If you’re getting into the game for the first time, however, you have some options! The Dark Tidings Deluxe Deck has one deck and tokens for one player, while the Two-Player Starter Set offers two decks, paper playmats, and tokens for you and your opponent. Whether you’re a veteran or just starting to look into the game, Dark Tidings is a perfect entrypoint.

Unfathomable Depths
Dark Tidings begins by introducing a brand-new House to your games of KeyForge, replacing House Dis in the rotation of active Houses. Dwelling deep in the oceans of the Crucible, House Unfathomable takes Dark Tidings in a decidedly aquatic direction. With a mix of humanoid Aquans and dangerous deep-sea beasts, the Unfathomable can be deadly for unprepared creatures that stray into their domain. But with the tides rising across the Crucible, the entire planet may soon fall under the control of House Unfathomable…

As a faction, House Unfathomable specializes in controlling their foes by exhausting enemy creatures. With cards like Kiri Giltspine (Dark Tidings, 342) keeping your opponent’s creatures down, it quickly becomes difficult for them to muster a fighting force or reap enough æmber. Then, once your enemies are exhausted, you can keep them out of commission with the unusual powers of The Chosen One (Dark Tidings, 332) or even wipe away their board by playing Sleep with the Fishes (Dark Tidings, 344)!

Of course, the Unfathomable are known for another area of mastery—the tides that crash across the Crucible. The tides may be as unusual as every other part of the Crucible, but you can count on one thing—if it’s high tide for you, it’s low tide for someone else. Every Archon Deck in Dark Tidings comes with the new Tide Card (Dark Tidings, 0), and it forms an integral part of many cards in this set. The Tide Card starts each game out of play, but as soon as one player raises the tide, the Tide Card is brought into play, with High Tide facing toward you and Low Tide facing your opponent. High Tide has no inherent effects, but many cards become more powerful, or can only be used, if you have the High Tide, such as Hookmaster (Dark Tidings, 358). Many effects can raise the tide, such as Seabringer Kekoa (Dark Tidings, 364), but even if they aren’t available, the player with Low Tide can always suffer three chains to turn the tide in their favor!

As tides begin to swell across the Crucible, the power of the Unfathomable may be rising, but they certainly don’t have a monopoly on harnessing the tides. Every House in KeyForge has ways to take advantage of the Tide Card in Dark Tidings!

Logos seeks to master and regulate the unpredictable nature of the tides by employing a Tide Warp (Dark Tidings, 28)—an artifact that strives to ensure fair and balanced access to the tides for both players. Meanwhile, Marshal Ewer (Dark Tidings, 116) lets you consistently raise the tide, and Ol' Paddy (Dark Tidings, 408) pulls more and more creatures out of the depths of your deck. The Star Alliance turns to characters like Lieutenant Valmart (Dark Tidings, 296) to keep your opponent’s keys out of reach, a Sea Urchin (Dark Tidings, 239) is a poisonous thief, and Undagnathus (Dark Tidings, 182) can be a real heavy-hitter if you have the high tide.

My Evil Twin
They say that you can find anything on the Crucible, if you search hard enough for it… even your own evil twin. Now with the Dark Tidings set, the developers continue to push the KeyForge algorithm, and you just might find an evil twin of your own in the game.

Evil twin decks are a brand-new type of deck appearing in Dark Tidings, and they’re quite unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. For example, you may open a deck that’s entitled Speaker Domitia’s Evil Twin. This deck is an exact copy of Speaker Domitia, a real deck that has been printed and can be found by another player out in the world. The crucial difference is that in an evil twin deck, many of your creatures look a little different.

In the Dark Tidings set, many creatures have evil twin variants, and if you find an evil twin deck, every creature with an evil twin variant appear in that form. These evil twin creatures feature new artwork, graphic design, and abilities, making them a significant departure from the original creature. For example, if the “original” deck had Undagnathus and Lærie of the Lake (Dark Tidings, 115), the evil twin copy of the deck would swap in the evil twin versions of Undagnathus (Dark Tidings, 130) and Lærie of the Lake (Dark Tidings, 66), as well as any other creatures in the deck that have an evil twin version.

You may know your evil twin exists somewhere on the Crucible, but finding and playing against your evil twin in the real world is an experience that you don’t want to miss!

Beneath the Waves
The tides of the Crucible are wild and unpredictable, but with this new KeyForge set, you can venture out into these strange oceans. Search for evil twin decks, unlock the secrets of House Unfathomable, and master the tides.