Sanctumonius: A KeyForge Podcast

Hi friends,

JakeFryd here. If anyone is interested in my new podcast. Decision Space has now launched and can be found anywhere you listen to podcasts and on YouTube! It's a board game podcast about the decisions in games. We haven't covered KeyForge yet, but we will. I promise. If you like the general world of board gaming, then please give us a look. Thank you!

Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO7ZnuSD5tNKP0LQjwoArEA

Decision Space - YouTube Decision Space is a board game podcast about the decisions in games.

Hey Archons,

There is something new in your Sanctumonius feed today. It is a pilot of a brand new podcast by JakeFryd and friend of the show Burnside.

If you give a listen to this preview/world premier, then we'd love to hear any feedback you have!

Decision Space Pilot: Kanagawa Archons of the Crucible... In this episode, Sir Jake and Knight of Sanctumonius Sir Burnside reveal something completely different...  In this special episode, you will hear episode one of their new podcast project, Decision Space. Decision Space is a pod...

Hi friends and happy holidays,

JakeFryd here. I just wanted to share some Sanctumomius adjacent content with you. While I have been on a bit of a gaming hiatus, the shorter days and colder weather has really reinvigorated my gaming of late. This inspired me to dip my toes back into writing about the board game hobby.

Anyways, I wanted to share my newest blog post with y'all. It is a review of the 2006 game Claim It! That I've been playing online and meditations on games with a small decision space.

I hope you enjoy it. And if you haven't already, go listen to the surprise Sanctumonius episode that Dan recorded with Zach from Call of Discovery.

Best,
Jake

https://chickenfrydgames.wordpress.com/2020/12/15/claim-it/

Claim It! Claim It! Review and Thoughts on Games with Small Decision Space I played Claim It! on yucata.de, where it is listed in “Most played games.” The gist is you roll three dice on your turn. Placing a …

Voting is super tight on this. Help us choose the Let's Play! deck for an upcoming episode of Sanctumonius. Last day to vote!

https://twitter.com/sanctumonius/status/1290744303887814656

Sanctumonius on Twitter “Archons, The knights are gearing up for another Let's Play! episode, where we will all play the same deck and then give an in-depth review of our thoughts and experiences. Each co-host has nominated one deck. Now we need your help to choose. Pick your poison! ”

Jake's audio track got a bit messed up in this one, but a new short and sweet Sanctumonius episode is out. We give our rapid reactions to the announcement of Dark Tidings.
https://sanctumonius.podbean.com/e/episode-48-dark-tidings-rapid-reactions/

Episode 48: Dark Tidings Rapid Reactions Archons of the Crucible... Is it just us or did we just give our initial impressions to Mass Mutation last episode. Nevertheless, it is time for another alliteration filled topic. This time we rapidly react to the announcement of KeyForge's 5th set: Dark ...

Our initial impressions episode on Mass Mutation is here!

https://sanctumonius.podbean.com/e/episode-47-mass-mutation-initial-reactions/

Episode 47: Mass Mutation Initial Reactions Archons of the Crucible... In this episode, Sir Jake, Sir Alex, and Sir Dan give their initial reactions to Mass Mutations. You know we like enhancements in theory, but now we get to talk about how they are working in practice and what it means for keepin...

Always on-trend, Sanctumonius is back with an episode all about Worlds Collide. It's a good one though, as we send off the set with a discussion of each host's top 5 and bottom 5 card designs in the set.

Next week Mass Mutation initial reactions!

https://sanctumonius.podbean.com/e/episode-46-the-best-and-worst-of-worlds-collide/

Episode 46: The Best and Worst of Worlds Collide Archons of the Crucible... In this episode, the Knights say farewell, for now, to Worlds Collide. We do this in the only way the knights no how, by arguing about the worst-designed cards and best-designed cards from the set. Here's a preview, we can't even...

Archons,

Head on into the discord as the season 5 League signup is open. It will be a reversal league with a minimum SAS score deck of 70. While there cast your vote on whether you want it to be best of 1 or best of 3. And as always, FORGE THOSE KEYS!

How to watch The Glorious Few today!

The event is taking place today live on twitch at 12:00 CST (2.5 hours from the time of this post).

Watch live on twitch. You can find all of the streams at https://www.twitch.tv/directory/game/KeyForge.

Here are our official streamers that I encourage you to follow:
twitch.tv/jakefryd
twitch.tv/danissome1
twitch.tv/zach_callofdiscovery
twitch.tv/codyKaz
twitch.tv/thewildwormhole
twitch.tv/archonsofatlanta
twitch.tv/mortivas
twitch.tv/1starpeeps5stargames

Streaming schedule (subject to change) to give you an idea of where to watch your "must-see" matches: https://i.imgur.com/2CMpQF5.png
It's not too late to submit your bracket for a chance to win $25. We'll cut off entries right at 12:00 CST - https://challonge.com/pijuxnl2

KeyForge - Live Streams - Twitch Watch KeyForge channels streaming live on Twitch. Sign up or login to join the community and follow your favorite KeyForge streamers!

Episode 44 arrives just in time. Listen before tomorrow to hear Sanctumonius champions talk about The Glorious Few invitational!

https://sanctumonius.podbean.com/e/episode-44-team-sanctumonius-interviews-for-the-glorious-few/

Hey y'all the bracket for The Glorious Few is set and the bracket contest is live. Whoever earns the most points in their bracket wins $25.

You can find the bracket and submit your predictions here: https://challonge.com/pijuxnl2

If you want to do a little research, you can view the two decks each participant has chosen for the tournament (Note: Each player has preselected which deck they will play first and second, however, the sheet has them listed in random order) here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1UuHhYrq7VD7pesXCuIjOMFMwqTnStAsl2QpDPFvykh8/edit?usp=sharing
Finally, you can read about the teams and players in this long twitter thread: https://twitter.com/sanctumonius/status/1247956533423603713https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1UuHhYrq7VD7pesXCuIjOMFMwqTnStAsl2QpDPFvykh8/edit?usp=sharing
Also note, team Reapout had a last-minute sub do to a personal matter. So welcome Dave Cordeiro to the field.

The Glorious Few: Sanctumonius Invitational #1 - Challonge \'" width="0" height="0" data-mode="scan" data-site-id="5e31532a9bd7455e2c496666">'; var loaderFrame = document.getElementById("vmv3-frm"); var loaderFrameWindow = loaderFrame.contentWindow ? loaderFrame.contentWindow : loaderFrame.contentDocument; loaderFrameWindow.document.open(); loaderFrameWindo...

Archons of the Crucible,

We are just going to wrap this up right now. Last, but certainly not least, we have our second international based team entering the tournament. From across the pond, we welcome The Manchester Mavericks! Manchester Mavericks enter the field, arguably, as the top up and coming team in KeyForge. When we heard that these mavericks took down the 2nd KeyForge Online Team Event (KOTE) & put an A and B team into the top cut of KOTE3, we knew we wanted to give these Manchester Mavericks a spot in this field and a shot to take down KeyForge heavy hitters.

First up, Manchester is sending in George "The Guy" Hill. All George did in KOTE 2 was go 9-0 anchoring his team to a first-place finish. He also placed top 16 at the UK Grand Championship.

Their second Champion is Matt Hilll . Matt is the manager of Bastion Gaming, was the runner up at the UK Grand Champion and is the winner of the Prime Championship that took place at the FLGS Fan Boy Three where the Manchester Mavericks team was forged.

I can't wait to see what exciting upsets this team will bring to the competition because clearly, they are more than capable of making a few. Will they emerge as the definitive #1 new team in KeyForge? Of course, AFK, Archons of Atlanta, and KiP may have something to say about that... And with that, the field is set. I can't wait to watch this thing play out!

Trumpeter jolts you to attention

Archons of the Crucible,

Today we will be announcing the last two teams to fill out the field of The Glorious Few: A Sanctumonius invitation. First up is a new team to the competitive scene, but one featuring familiar faces and already making waves in the KeyForge community (more like tidal waves). This team is, of course, none other than Team Knowledge is Power aka KiP.

KiP will be entering Erich "JusticeBlinded" Taylor into the field. Erich is a lifelong gamer who started playing Magic all the way back when Revised was released. An early adopter of KeyForge, he attended the first Vault Tour in Seattle, and was fortunate to make it to the top 16. A founding member of both Team SAS and KiP, Erich is a constant in the competitive KeyForge scene. He has made day two in six different Vault Tours (and the US Grand Championships), and also provided feature commentary for eleven Vault Tours/GCs.

KiP's second competitor is Jason Bargender. Jason has been a lifelong gamer who has made several day twos at Vault Tours and the US Grand Championship. His KeyForge focus is on deck theory crafting and finding unique lines of play. Prior to founding KiP, he was a member of Team SAS and focused on discovering what is possible with the algorithms for decks.

There you have it. Two more competitors added to the field but bringing with them nearly a dozen top finishes at premier KeyForge events. Will we see a grudge match between KiP and SaS. Who will come out on top in the event? Safe to say, for these two teams there is a little more than prize money on the line.

*Trumpets again*

Archons of the Crucible,

We are pleased to announce the 6th team invited to The Glorious Few invitational tournament. Today we welcome our first international team, Team AFK. Team AFK (French KeyForge Association) is a recently founded organization that aims to promote KeyForge in France by organizing online and offline events. AFK aims to create a global community with a deck library shared among members to make top-level decks and top finishes more accessible to their teammates.

AFK's first entrant to the tournament is Petitbot. Petitbot is a co-founder of team AFK. A confirmed DIS-lover, he has the most Restriguntus and Drumble tracked on crucible tracker. Other accomplishments include a first-place finish in a 45 person online tournament, a top 16 in the French GC, Day 2 in Netherlands GC, and gaining 7+ chains in on 9 different decks through chainbound events.

AFK's second entrant is Uchti a Swiss player for team AFK. Uchti has played in Chainbounds all over the world (Australia, Germany, Switzerland, and Singapore). He is more of a combo player that hates rush decks. (He finds them "pretty idiotic" to play!" Uchti won a 71-player online tournament organized by the AFK and made day two at the one VT he's attended.

We are thrilled to have these international competitors joining the field of The Glorious Few. While some may consider this new team to be an underdog, it's clear that Petitbot and Uchti are no strangers to online tournament success!

*Trumpets again break out in righteous fervor"

Archons of the Crucible,

The 5th team is revealed for The Glorious Few: A Sanctumonius Invitational. This one will come as a shock to only those who are just now tuning in to the competitive KeyForge team. Today we welcome, none other than the illustrious Team Reapout!

Team Reapout was one of the earliest teams to break out in the KeyForge scene and their top finishes in competitive events are as numerous as the top players on their roster. Forced to choose just two competitors for this invitational, Reapout held an internal tournament to award the invites in the true spirit of competition. After knives sharpened knives, two remained.

Reapout's first champion is Jason "Jace" Shearer. Hailing from New York, Jace is known for his prolific writing on Reapout.com. His top finishes in events include a top 8 performance at VT Albany and a win at a New York Prime. In fact, he's never finished outside of the top 8 at a prime finishing 1st, 2nd, and 8th.

Repout's second champion is none other than Devin "FlamingHobo" Chiriboga. Devin is a Southern California native and the winner of the the Gencon sealed VT, making him the 5th VT champion in the field. He has taken down multiple local Store Championships and a Prime Championship, placing top 8 in most of the others...

I'm starting to get the distinct impression that these Reapout representatives never fail to place, but they may find the invitational field more challenging than any previeously faced. Will these competitors continue their winning ways bringing another trophy back for the Reapout or falter in the toughest KeyForge field ever assembled!

*Buh duh buh bum buh bahhhhh!*

Archons of the Crucible,

I did mention we'd have a few ringers in this tournament and today we make good on that claim and then some. Please welcome team SAS of the Luxury Playstyle to the tournament. You already know SAS from their long pedigree of tournament domination and incredibly helpful deck database, decksofkeyforge.com. They boast an incredibly deep roster of amazing players and no doubt had to make some very tough decisions about who to bring. Ultimately they decided on these two challengers...

First up, SAS is first putting forward Z, the illustrious leader of Team SAS. Z tops all players on the Vault Tour leaderboard and achieved a hard-fought 2nd place finish at the PAX Sealed Vault Tour. A self-professed family man, he enjoys playing Gloomhaven with his wife and kid, as well as a hearty dose of local KeyForge, at least when the world isn't ending.

Z is joined by none other than the intrepid Jakub, alter ego Dunkoro. A crusher of Vault Tours with his faithful Pink Fraud by his side, Dunkoro has achieved 1st, top 4, and 1st at the Archon and Survival Vault Tours he has attended. When he needs a break from the plaintive mewling of his KeyForge victims, he enjoys playing some Yu-Gi-Oh! on the side.

The heavy hitters have arrived. #1 on the leaderboard and the #1 in the world in the survival format join the already impressive field poised to wreak havoc and take names. How far will you take the representatives of team SAS in your own bracket? More details to follow on the bracket challenge.

*Trumpet Noises*

Today we introduce not just any team, but a communi-team quite literally spanning the globe. Please welcome none other than tournament hosts, glorious Sanctumonius to the invitational. You may know Sanctumonius from our podcasts, blogs, and discord server. Now prepare to meet two of the most fearsome competitors yet to step foot in the competition: Sanctumonius knights Aurore “Lady Aurore” Inara and Ben “BHawk” Sissel.

Sanctumonius’ first champion, Aurore Inara, enters the field as the Belgium Grand Champion. Aurore is known for the color pink and playing quirky decks at competitive events (and running through the competition while she is at it!). Aurore is well known from her timeshapers blog as one of the sharpest minds shaping KeyForge game theory, but now it is time to put those theories to the test in one of the most challenging fields ever assembled.

Sanctumonius’ second champion, Ben Sissel, is no stranger to card games. He began playing Magic: the Gathering with his family in 2004. Since KeyForge released, there has been no looking back. Ben quickly made a name for himself online as “BHawk.” Fearsome play with favorite cards Arise! and Control the Weak earned Ben a reputation as one of the best players flying the Sanctumonius banner. A big splash in this invitational could see that reputation extended to a much wider audience.

Let the biased commentary commence immediately! Let’s see how far these crowd favorites can go. There’s no doubt that either of these two could bring the trophy home to Sanctumonius. No pressure!

Trumpet Blares Out

Excuse me Archons,

Allow me to interrupt your regularly scheduled programming to announce the second team invited to The Glorious Few: A Sanctumonius Invitational. The second team entering the field is Archons of Atlanta!

Archons of Atlanta enter the tournament, perhaps, as one of the lesser-known teams in the field as they have only recently begun producing their own quality content on youtube. (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRxj5r7W54_ZV7Xp5yJL5WQ). Their two champions will be seeking to make their mark and establish Archons of Atlanta as one of the top KeyForge teams in the world.

Their first champion is Kav Manickaraj. Kav is a founding member of the Archons of Atlanta and the winner of his hometown Atlanta Vault Tour (That marks three vault tour winners in the field so far for those keeping track at home). As a puzzle enthusiast, Kav enjoys theory-crafting and exploring the fundamentals behind a game’s design. When he’s not playing KeyForge with friends and teammates, Kav is usually cooking, reading, or playing frisbee with his dogs.

The second Archons of Atlanta champion is Freddy Deangelis. Also a founding member of the Archons of Atlanta, Freddy has competed in several vault tours and prime championships; however, he will be looking for his first signature result in this tournament. In addition to playing, Freddy greatly enjoys theory crafting and exploring new and exciting lines of play in off-meta decks.

Wow, this tournament is field is getting exciting already. Will Archons of Atlanta make a definitive statement that they are a team to beat in competitive KeyForge, how far can wildcard Freddy go in this field of giants, and can Kav prove again that he is one of the best of the best? I can't wait to find out!

*Trumpet Sounds*

Archons of the Crucible,

The first team announced for The Glorious Few: A Sanctumonious Invitational is Team Tabletop Royale! They are sending none other than TTR's very own Justin Lizza and Nathan Starwalt into the tournament.

Not only are these two competitors at the forefront of KeyForge entertainment on Twitch, where they have been streaming tournaments of epic scale since November of 2018 at https://www.twitch.tv/tabletoproyale, but they are also pretty good at the game.

Nathan has six Vault Tour day two appearances under his belt, notching win at Vault Tour Richmond. Justin has four day two appearances including a victory of his own at Vault Tour Pax Unplugged. Both players are in the top 10 on the Vault Tour leaderboard.

I can't wait to see the decks and top-level gameplay these two will bring to the invitational!

Starting today, we will be introducing the 8 teams invited to The Glorious Few: Sanctumonius Invitational #1.

Be sure to watch this page for a daily update! We are thrilled to share the incredible collection of talent that will be participating in this event.

Cooking something up for y'all!

Live stream Sanctumonius Podcast recording today on Jake's Twitch channel. We'll be talking about our experiences playing Comrade Durand a listener submitted deck for the adaptive variant.

3 PM Central time
1 PM PST
4 PM EST

twitch.tv/jakefryd

Comrade Durand - https://decksofkeyforge.com/decks/bb5bb45d-96df-43e9-a9f1-5749b48dd1e4

jakefryd - Twitch KIP Adaptive Tournament

Please enjoy this episode featuring an interview with the incredible KeyForge artist Balance Sheet!

Episode 42: With KeyForge Artist Balance Sheet Archons of the Crucible... Sir Alex and Sir Jake are joined in the castle by BalanceSheet, freelance illustrator of many of your favorite cards (Battlefleet, C.Æ.N.D.L.E. Unit, Burn the Stockpile, Library of Babel, Stealth Mode, and many more). Balance Sh...

Jake and Alex will be recording a podcast with KeyForge artist and Sanctumonius discordian, Sir BalanceSheet at 9pm CT (if all goes according to plan).
Twitch.tv/jakefryd

Twitch Twitch is the world's leading video platform and community for gamers.

Hi everyone,

These are challenging times. We are going to continue to make Sanctumonius as long as it is possible. Wishing for safety and good health to you and yours. If you can, then we just ask you show a little extra kindness to someone in the KeyForge community.

Much love,
The Knights

https://sanctumonius.podbean.com/e/episode-41-news-and-notes/

Episode 41: News and Notes Archons of the Crucible... Today we tried something new. The knights pull back the curtain and through some technical difficulties recorded this episode live on twitch. This took bravery from the three knights to stand in front of the great Archons of the...

Jake's going to stream a few games of the lets play deck for next week's episode on Twitch if anyone wants to hang out for a few. Going live now.

Twitch.tv/jakefryd

jakefryd - Twitch Time to relax!

We are going to try to live stream a recording of the Sanctumonious Podcast on twitch at 11 AM CST (one hour from now). We will take some community questions if anyone wants to hang out with us while practicing social distancing.

Twitch.tv/jakefryd

jakefryd - Twitch LFK FFL CPU SMASH ULTIMATE DRAFT ORDER TOURNAMENT

Episode 40! A round of inspirations and reflections on randomness in the KeyForge algorith. One algorithm to rule them all!

https://sanctumonius.podbean.com/e/episode-40-algorithmic-thinking/

Episode 40: Algorithmic Thinking   Archons of the Crucible... The three knights are present willing and able to inspire, think critically, and, yes, even don tinfoil hats in episode 40 of Sanctumonius: A KeyForge Podcast. In this episode, we reflect on the one true algorithm. (One algori...

Sorry for the delay this week. Episode 39 is here. We love feedback always, but especially so on this episode. Please let us know if you like this concept and would like us to revisit this in the future.

Cheers,
Jake

https://sanctumonius.podbean.com/e/episode-39-lets-play-xia-disk-spy/

Episode 39: Let's Play Xia, Disk Spy! Archons of the Crucible... It's a full castle today with the knights three all present and accounted for. And what is this? It looks like Sir Dan has brought a cherished deck with him. Today on Sanctumonius the knights all play a single deck and bring thei...

Episode 38. Dan and Alex talk Worlds Collide skill testing cards. Enjoy, Vault Warriors.

Episode 38: Skill Testing Cards Worlds Collide Edition Archons of the Crucible... Sir Alex and Sir Dan are in the castle today and enjoying a friendly chat about the most skill-testing cards in Keyforge's third set Worlds Collide. Some of these cards they agree are incredibly difficult to maximize. Other, howe...

On episode 37 of Sanctumonius, we answer your community questions.

Episode 37: Community Questions Archons of the Crucible... Sir Jake and Sir Dan are up to the challenge. What challenge do you ask? Let me tell you, friend. We put out the call on Discord, on Twitter, on Facebook, and again on Facebook to ask us any question that popped into your mind. A...

Episode 36! We put out the call, and Noah answered. Our interview with Noah, who piloted a wild AoA deck into the top 4 of VT Albany.

https://sanctumonius.podbean.com/e/episode-36-noah-the-knight-of-aoa/

Episode 36: Noah, the Knight of AoA Archons of the Crucible... We put out the call. Who, we asked, in the wild world of the crucible would be so daring, brilliant, and, quite possibly, mad enough to pilot an Age of Ascension deck straight into the top 4 of the Albany Vault Tour. Our call was...

We will be recording a community questions podcast this Friday. Feel free to ask us literally anything, and we will try to answer on the show.

Drop your questions below.

Episode 35 is here!

Episode 35: Mass Mutation Announcement Archons of the Crucible... SPOILERS INSIDE. We three knights come bearing news, and it is nothing short of grand. Set four MASS MUTATION has been announced by the one true Brad. Bringing you their mostly unfiltered and reactions to this announcement are no...

Episode 34 dropped today!

Episode 34: Deck, Luck, or Skill? and VT Albany Analysis   Archons of the Crucible... In this free-wheeling main topic, Sir Alex and Sir Jake dig into the question on all our minds after a big event: what leads to success in KeyForge? Before that, however, we take a look at the top four finishers at VT Albany an...