Hello, World!

Hello, World! is **Key of Ijzeria**'s very first set.

Hello, World! (abbreviated to **BSE**) is also **Key of Ijzeria**'s first draftable set.

## Set Details

Hello, World! is the starter set to Key of Ijzeria.

BSE contains 120 unique cards (20 water, 20 air, 20 fire, 20 earth, 20 light, 20 shadow), and is sold in pairs of decks.

The available pairs are;

* **Fire and Water** - This bundle contains a playset of all fire and water cards available in BSE, 60 fire cards and 60 water cards, 120 in all.
* **Air and Earth** - This bundle contains a playset of all the air and earth cards available in BSE, 60 air cards and 60 earth cards, 120 in all.
* **Light and Shadow** - This bundle contains a playset of all the light and shadow cards available in BSE, 60 light cards and 60 shadow cards, 120 cards in all.

## Storyline

### Overview

Hello, World! focuses on worldbuilding and introducing players to the world of Ijzeria; Its cards do not follow a specific narrative, but they all exist within the same storyline.

### Stars of the Show

BSE introduces the characters of Alhanalem Amaran, Bangawiin of Aanakwad, Zeniba Ridley, Aniibiishikaa, Rhaast Ngqo, and Bezhigo Beausoleil. Each of these six "star" characters are depicted at a point in time shortly before they all meet one another.

### Locations Depicted

Locations depicted in BSE include Salsiccia, Ymiron, Saha'i, Neon Red, the Sea of Trees, the Skycity of Anaakwad, the Rostroot, the city-state of Fasola, the city-state of Tidore, the forest of Hollowend, the crags of Skyreland, the Pyreveldt, the queendom of Whitewood, and the six dragon demesnes (the trench, the front, the slaag, the annex, the spire, and the crevasse).

### Place on the Timeline

Everything depicted in BSE takes place in the year 8407AU, which is **Key of Ijzeria's** "current year".

### Major Events

* **Bezhigo Finds the Shape.**
	+ After years of searching for someone with knowledge of daemonic power, the powerful shaman Bezhigo succeeds in locating The Shape of Teeth. After a shockingly brief exchange, The Shape of Teeth divulges black magic and deep secrets so that Bezhigo can enhance his own power, though what The Shape taught Bezhigo, and what the cost of this dark knowledge was, is currently unknown.
* **Zeniba Sings in Saha'i.**
	+ Lady Ridley, 1st knight commander of the Order of Usjoll, underduchess of Inirek, princess of Usjoll and the House of Ridley, arrives in Saha'i as part of her "8407 World Tour". The Saha'i Opera House is the first stop in her three week musical tour of the continent of Zant. Shortly after her arrival, she performs at the Bizarre Bazaar (Saha'i's major outdoor marketplace) to support a pro-witchcraft protest. As part of her stunning performance, she performs several "witch" spells, that terrify and awe the audience. Even though she scares and disgusts some of the onlookers, her natural charisma and exceptional talent win over the crowd, and everyone walks away with a broader horizon and a new perspective. Then the street explodes.
* **Professor Alhanalem's Tower Undergoes Chaotic Spontaneous Reconfiguration.**
	+ Professor Alhanalem Amaran, of Saha'i University, is giving a demonstration on the role of extremely low temperatures in the use of spellcraft when suddenly the building quakes. The university evacuates immediately, although Alhanalem stays behind to preserve as much of his research as possible. Just as his tower collapses from the stress of the explosion from the street below, he seals most of the cracks in the walls shut using ice magic. His students evacuate the tower safely, although just as he himself flees, the tower crumbles onto the ground. Another explosion across town draws his attention, and he heads toward the designated safety area, the Bizarre Bazaar.
* **Bangawiin's Trade Mission Gets Put on Hold.**
	+ Bangawiin, emissary from the floating city of Aanakwad, docks his airship at the Grand Kahve (a luxury hotel which also serves as Saha'i's merchant's guild), which has a grand balcony that overlooks the Bizarre Bazaar. As his crew finish unloading their valuable cargo, Bangawiin greets a trade delegation from the local guilds. Negotiations have only just begun when Zhooniyaa, his trusted owl familiar, flies in and warns of a looming disaster. Together, they excuse themselves, and in a huge gust of wind, fly away to find the source of the imminent danger.
* **System Administrator Rhaast Gets a Perfect Score.**
	+ In the centre of Saha'i at the Speaker's Palace, Rhaast, the System Administrator for the whole of the continent of Zant, is undergoing a special inspection. This is the last of a series of audits which have taken over a month to complete. In spite of the strict standards required by The System for Rhaast to maintain his position, it appears Rhaast has risen to the occasion, and will have his tenure extended. Just as the grand auditor is getting ready to wrap up Rhaast's final interview, there is a thunderous kaboom which shakes the whole palace. The grand auditor barely has time to ask what could have made such a noise when she sees that Rhaast has left, moving at speed towards the trade district. She consults her itinerary briefly and concludes she doesn't really have time for an adventure right now, and stamps Rhaast's approval papers, before heading off to her next audit.

The reason that the storyline of BSE doesn't play out in sequence on the cards is that **The Ministry of Distraction** (the makers of Key of Ijzeria) prefers that players use the cards available to go on their own adventures and tell their own stories - and not to simply reenact the plotlines that the Ministry of Distraction dictates.

## Design

Hello, World! is designed to be a player's first step into the world of Ijzeria, as well as the introduction to the game itself. As such, it focusses on no particular location, culture, or property of the world of Ijzeria, and instead features a broad sampling from many different places and people.

BSE puts a strong emphasis on introductory mechanics. This is why the six **gem abilities** used in BSE only appear in one key at a time. For this same reason, there is a healthy balance of passive and spark abilities, but only one card in BSE has active ability.

## Development

Hello, World was developed to give players the tools and time they needed to learn how to play as efficiently as possible over the course of a handful of games. To achieve this, several major development goals were taken.

### Reduced Complexity

"Complexity" is the term used to describe how difficult it is for a player to understand the game. Because BSE is the very first set of **KOI**, it was very important to start the game off with a focus on accessibility, and not overwhelm players with layers and layers of rules. Ironically, this required a great deal of planning and thought.

* **Words and Text -** The cards in BSE use as little text as possible, and unit cards have simple effects.
* **Abilities and Tags -** Most abilities in BSE are passive or spark abilities. There is only one active ability in the whole set; Towering Owlmoth's "self-bounce" ability. The abilities of all permanents use tags to indicate if they are passive, spark, or active abilities.
* **Tempo and Rally -** BSE focuses on ***Tempo abilities***, which spark at the start or end of a turn; and ***Rally abilities***, which spark when something enters the field. Many players are very familiar with time-sensitive abilities and "enter the field" effects from other games.
* **No Multikey Cards -** All the cards which appear in BSE are only one key. This streamlines a lot of deckbuilding choices and makes the different mechanical identities of the keys more obvious to a casual viewer.
* **Simple Battle Plan -** There are no flash spells or effects which increase or decrease a unit's ATK or DEF. This means that attacking has less risk involved, since the numerical values on the board will not change. There are still removal effects and direct damage to worry about, but the only "buff" cards in the set are Applewood Onslaught and Inspiration Overload neither of which are flash.
* **Number Crunching -** Most units have 3 or less DEF, in order to make them susceptible to direct damage cards. Additionally, most units have ATK greater than their DEF in order to ensure that attacking is a more productive use of a player's time than blocking.
* **Obvious Threats -** Each key has its own Sprite card, "story character" card, Golem card, tech card, and finally Dragon Spirit card. This helps players build decks they know will be formidable, since they will see other players experimenting with cards that are visually similar to their own.
* **Archetypal Cards -** BSE features a pair of cards which are named after deck archetypes which appear in other games. Bounce is named after bounce decks, Burn is named after burn decks. Both Burn and Bounce are very powerful and cost effective cards that fit directly into their archetype. By making these two cards "must-haves" then new players will learn what makes them so special and why there are entire decks which focus on bouncing and/or burning, and what makes such a deck fun to play.

### **Mana Curve**

There is a strong focus on each key having the ability to "curve out"; to play one or more cards each turn until the game is over. Each key is developed to have a strong curve, and as long as a player is adding a card to their mana each turn, they can reasonably expect to do something even more powerful the next turn.

## Trivia

* The set code for Hello, World! is BSE because in French, the word "base" is the same as the English word "base". Hello, World! is intended to be the "base set", something that players can show to their friends to introduce them to the game without coming off as overwhelming.
* Hello, World! is named after the phrase which computer science students often use to create their first computer programs.
* No cards in Hello, World! are more than one key, even though cards in Key of Ijzeria can be multiple keys.