KAGI Live 2024 Recap

Greetings KeyForge players and Adaptive lovers! Last weekend at KFC 2024, friends gathered, they celebrated this game and major life moments, and 3 World Champions were crowned. In between all of those festivities, KAGI Live 2024 was also taking place. It blew away all of our expectations thanks to all of the players who eagerly participated. Read on for a breakdown and recap of the first ever KAGI Live event!

Event Summary

We must start with a huge congratulations to the winner of the first ever KAGI Live, stormstrong! They finished their games in Dis pod going 5-4 for 19 points, making them 2nd in their pod. They went on in the Top Cut to defeat BHawk and then AndyP in the best-of-three finals to take the title of KAGI Live 2024 Champion. The final standings of the top cut were as follows:

1^st stormstrong
2^nd AndyP
3^rd - 4^th BHawk
3^rd - 4^th siaka

In total, 45 players signed up throughout the weekend, and 84 (!!!) Adaptive BO1 matches were played. In total, 14 players managed to get 5 games in, which is quite impressive considering everything else happening every day (main events, sealed pods, Keymander, Adventures, shredder, and so much more). Stormstrong and AndyP led the way, each with 9 games played in the Pod Phase alone. BHawk was the #1 overall seed, with an impressive 6-2 record in Pod play against their fellow Logos players.

Prize Support

The generously donated prizes were awarded on Saturday, which included a guest appearance on Bottom of the Beaker (stormstrong), a Sloppy Sextet kit for 2 players with 12 decks (aembermedes), a signed Whirlpool deck (medaps), adaptive bidding poker chips to the top 8, Dark Aember Duck tokens (SithofAngmar), Sloppy Labwork creator cards / stickers, and tickets for the prize wall.

The Joy of KeyForge

I can't tell you how many times someone approached me during and after the weekend to tell me that their adaptive games were the most fun they had playing KeyForge during the entire weekend. There is still so much charm to playing with your favorite deck that can't keep up in Archon, but still getting to play tight and competitive games regardless of deck strength. It really warmed my heart to hear all of these stories, and I can't thank the players enough for proving that this format is not just viable, but perhaps an integral part of KeyForge's success.

I always like to cite Richard Garfield, who once said that “one of the most exciting things for me with KeyForge has been this idea that people have a very difficult time telling other people what the best way to play is.” Everyone is drawn to KeyForge as a game for their own reasons, but one thing we all have in common is that we all have our own, unique decks that we love for various reasons. We are extremely proud to still provide an avenue for players to play those decks in a competitive space, regardless of whether or not they are still viable in the current meta. Adaptive allows KeyForge to always live up to the evergreen promise of the game from the very start. While Adaptive may not be for everyone, it is absolutely necessary to ensure that KeyForge lives up to my and Garfield's hopes that there is still something for everyone in KeyForge.

If you loved playing adaptive over the weekend and want to be able to play some more, or were sad you missed out and want the opportunity to experience it for yourself, make sure to check out the KAGI discord as the home of the online league! KAGI will proudly be organizing for its 12th season, and signups for it will be available in late November!

Chain tracker above is sized to print