Lets talk token creatures (No card spoilers)

With news of KeyForge being acquired by Ghost Galaxy came some information about the new set, Winds of Exchange. I’m not going to spoil any cards in this post, only the new core mechanic for the set.

Token Creatures

The article about token creatures has some card spoilers, but I want to talk about the core mechanic and how it may provide some additional considerations when creating them

Every deck will have a token creature reference card, and every token the deck creates will be a copy of that creature. When you create a token creature you put the top card of your deck face down into play. When a token leaves play it will be treated as a creature until it reaches the out-of-play zone, at which point it will return to being the card it always knew it was deep inside. This means that unless returned to the top of your deck by an effect like Mælstrom, they will cycle your deck.

In most situations you won’t be able to tell what card is on top of your deck. If you do, then the choice of whether you create a token creature depends on how powerful that card is. But the much more likely scenario is you have no idea what card it is. At face value, this may seem completely random, and you would always create a token creature if you can. However, you have a lot more information than you might think.

Fetchdrones

It so happens that on the day the news hit I was at my locals, playing my first in-person sealed tournament since the start of the pandemic. My deck was Charraze, the Cynic of Flattery and I won the 8 person event. I had a lot of fun.

The deck is by no means powerful, but it has enough going for it to make for an interesting sealed deck. The key aspect I want to discuss is the relatively powerful Logos house and the Fetchdrones. If I could play only Logos all game I’d have a very easy time in the tournament, but as it stood, it was quite challenging with two very close games.

This power disparity between the houses means that if I have already seen most of my Logos, and what I have left in my deck is mostly Brobnar and Untamed, it is beneficial for me to use Fetchdrones simply to cycle my deck faster. I did this a few times during the tournament, and I believe this helped me win at least one of the games.

Tokens as cycling tools

Tokens can play a similar role as Fetchdrones did in my deck. Particularly in sealed it would be extremely advantageous to be mindful of what the house distribution is in your deck, and which houses you’re likely cycling by creating tokens. If you have very important cards in your deck, it may be smart to forego creating a token as to not discard them.

Your discard pile is a treasure trove of information and you should do well to go over it when important decisions come up. Especially when you’re considering the effects on the composition of your deck.