Infinity Wars - Animated Trading Card Game News

FIrst, I'd like to direct everyone to the details of our new hotfix update if you haven't given it a once-over yet. It is a sizable group of bug fixes including the deckbuilder menu, trade interface, and buggy card interactions.







At long last, missions return to Infinity Wars. Some additional incentive is on the way for your regular gameplay. Killed 50 characters? Won a few games? You get extra rewards for things like that, with a few missions every day. Rewards may vary, from IP to Rift Tokens to IP/XP boosters for example - options are still being tested and explored.


Here are a few more examples we might attempt:

• Use the Trading Post ten times.
  
• Play with a deck that is three of the same purity.
  
• Play with a deck that has at least X (Subtype) characters in it.
  
• Virus: Developers carry a virus. Encounter us in PVP to receive the virus, and a reward.
  

There are so many options with this kind of thing. Eventually, we might even attempt to run community-wide missions/goals so that it doesn't just happen during expansion preorders. There is a lot that could be done with weekend, week-long, or month-long events; complete with themes for certain fictional events or scenarios. For now, just individual missions. You'll be able to experience this in one of our next updates, probably between October and November. In the meantime this feature will be tested and iterated further.





After meeting and talking with some of our community mods, we have put together what we understand to be a road toward better rewards for Ranked leaderboard resets, in the short term focusing on this trial month. As we mentioned before, the current "trial" season will end on September 30th, with reward bundles going out to players. Please note that we have heard player concerns about RNG cards, distribution of Penta-packs and more. On the basis of this being a one-month season, here's the breakdown for September:

Prizes:
***Note: all Infinity cards are selectable, and all Golds will be Random for this month.


1st place

Gold-foil (all x1): Legendary, Epic, Rare, Uncommon and Common
Gold (all x2) Legendary, Epic, Rare, Uncommon and Common
Infinity: Legendary x1, Epic x2, Rare x3, Uncommon x3, Common x3
7,500 LP

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2nd Place

Gold (all x2): Legendary, Epic, Rare, Uncommon and Common
Infinity Epic x2, Rare x2, Uncommon x3, Common x3
5,000 LP

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3rd-5th Place

Gold (all x1): Legendary, Epic, Rare, Uncommon and Common
Infinity: Epic x1, Rare x1, Uncommon x2, Common x2
5,000 LP

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6th-10th Place

Gold: Epic x2, Rare x1
Infinity: Rare x1, Uncommon x1, Common x1
3,500 LP

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11th-25th Place

Gold: Rare x2
Infinity: Rare x1
2,000 LP

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26th-50th Place

Gold: Uncommon x2
10 Collection Penta-Packs

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51st-100th Place

Gold: Uncommon x1
5 Collection Penta-Packs

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Okay, those are the rewards available come October 1st. Please remember that this is just a set-up for the trial season, and if necessary we can adjust the scaling or the contents to some degree. The current plan is to continue testing the 1-month season format for Ranked PVP, for at least one to three more months. In this time we will be discussing season length for the forseeable future beyond that, as we have lots of pros and cons with each duration. For example, we can't justify alt-arts for a 1-month duration, but a 3-month season is a longer grind. Various proposals on the forums will be read and taken into serious consideration. One thing we know for certain: we will finally be removing the Champion title issue. In future seasons, it will only be awarded at the conclusion of a season, and not right after a reset as players get their first points.

Going forward, we are considering various options for rewards at the top of the leaderboard which have some exclusive appeal to Ranked gameplay. One idea brought up was the concept of a special battlefield that goes to whoever has 1st place during the time of the reset, and each time you got the position your battlefield would transform a bit (such as a pile of gold getting bigger and bigger each time you got 1st place). This example was well-received by the mod team and staff, so that is a possibility in the future. Other concepts are also being considered as well.

Edit: Regarding choice reward cards, we recognize the value of being able to choose your reward card in a skill competition. In the case of individual card rewards, therefore, we are seriously considering the implementation of an in-game "pick your Infinity-border card" system that works directly in-game. We may opt for something similar to the old Golden Ticket, something I pitched for IBs earlier this year. I'll let you know when this gets locked-in for development.

Additional details are now available, explaining how these recent Sunday Swiss tournaments - the last two weeks, and one more this Sunday - will determine qualification of a competitor for the final top-16 event on the 25th of September. Please note that this is the first time we've tested this exact setup, so if any rulings seem unfavorable we can adjust them for the month of October.



The first three Sundays in the month are Swiss events. You only need to enter one Swiss event to try and qualify for the fourth-Sunday top 16 monthly tournament. Once all three of these events have come to pass (in this case, September 18th), all players with all their score data will be added to a spreadsheet. We will then begin sorting everyone. Placement is explained below, in a short version as well as paragraph form:

1. Series Record
   
2. Second-best score (if a player attended two or more events in the series)
   
3. Points Difference (based on total # of individual games won and lost)
   
4. Special note: For each person who does not show up, the next-highhest ranked player will be slotted in. If you're rank ~17-25 or so, be prepared if you can attend on the 25th, just in case.
   

Placement will be according to series record, above all else. This means that anyone with a 4-0 record will advance automatically, and several players who have a 3-1 record. If we get to position 16 and multiple people tie the series record for 16th place, anyone who attends a second event will receive priority. If two or more players attended a second event, we'll go by their performance in that second event. If neither player has attended two events we go to Points Difference; which shows their relative performance by individual game. For reference, I set up our spreadsheet and did a sample top-16 based on the last two events. Slot 2 was left empty in case we do not get a repeat 4-0 player (Adorabear or Tenaccarli).








We will use the tried-and-true seeding format whereby, for example, the top two players will be at opposite ends of the ladder bracket. In short, this is designed so that the tournament brackets are not so one-sided later in the event. The full format is best described with the sample image below, showing the winners' bracket layout.






Base on the above images, some examples of first-round matchups would find Adorabear vs Citridon, AccessDeny vs Ninjardo, and Toon310 vs InvertedEye. Please keep in mind that the third Swiss event this Sunday will be factored in. If you're low on the top-16 or not in there entirely, it would be best to try and qualify with high placement this Sunday if you are pursuing the Elimination event on the 25th.






The event format we will use for this month is Double Elimination. Everyone starts with "two lives," and on your first series loss you will be sent to the losers' bracket, where you get one last chance to survive. The longer you last in the winners' bracket, the easier the tournament will be if/when you eventually drop to the losers' bracket.

To compensate for the fact that a loser's bracket typically lasts longer, we will do like in the past where some of the rounds are a best-of-1. Largenuggets and I have agreed to make the last, and second-to-last round a best-of-3 for the losers' bracket. The entire winners' bracket will be best-of-three however, and we'll observe the "Two Lives" rule for the grand finals. This means the following: If the losers' bracket finalist defeats the winners' bracket finalist in the grand final series, they will have to do so again. This is because the winners' bracket finalist will have only lost their first life, like everyone else in the event. If this happens there will be a second best-of-three to determine the final outcome, and decks may be changed for this second series.






These are the prizes for September's monthly event. It's simple and pretty flexible in that it's largely about LP. You could use it for a large supply of rift tokens, penta-packs, some cosmetics, or a mixture. Delicious.

1st: LP x 25,000...with Infinity-border Legendary x1, Epic x2, Rare x3, Uncommon x4, Common x5
2nd: LP x 10,000..with Infinity-border Epic x1, Rare x2, Uncommon x3, Common x4
3rd: LP x 5,000.....with Infinity-border Rare x2, Uncommon x3, Common x4
4th: LP x 2,000.....with Infinity-border Uncommon x3, Common x4
5/6: LP x 1,500.....with Infinity-border Uncommon x2, Common x3
7/8: LP x 1,000.....with Infinity-border Common x3



Please post any questions you have in the discussion thread.

Hey guys! I have some news regarding the future of tournament play in IW, but first I have an announcement to make.

So far we have had good success bringing in Largenuggets and Hacker as Community Moderators. They've been a big help overall, and we're ready to add one more player at this time. Please join me in welcoming ES to the team of Community Moderators! ES is known for his high-level PVP of course, providing some solid insights on strategic play as well as understanding the metagame. It is also fitting to note for this particular post, that he wins a lot of our tournaments. We're proud to have his assistance as we move forward.

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Tournaments have the potential to be a sort of "lifeblood" for certain game genres that have a large PVP following. They can be very competitive or casual friendly, depending on the models used. A tournament can be a very important end-game option for PVP-oriented players, too.


The short version of this update is to say that tournaments for Infinity Wars are receiving a general overhaul in how they are maintained and scheduled. Prize rewards will be increased from what they have been previously. We're also getting close to the point where we can test a new tournament -hosting platform, one that is far less bug-prone than In addition, the format and rules will be refined to be more competitive. Starting with some trial events I've been planning alongside our awesome Community Mod Largenuggets, we are teaming up to bring you the beginning of league play in tournaments.




We're testing out a few different formats and styles for the month. On Saturdays, we will be testing different formats and point scoring systems with exhibition events, and simulating how they scale over the course of a few weeks. On the outside they will be pretty usual to what you've come to expect for a Saturday event, except with richer prizes. Beyond that, the weekend events this month will be part of a benchmark for a finalized season/league format beginning in October.

Sundays will revolve around a format proposed by Largenuggets in a month-long rotation cycle. The initial plan is to run three Swiss tournaments as a "qualifier," three Sundays in a row, and on the fourth Sunday have a final "invitational" of the top 16 players based on those three qualifying events; the finishing event will be an Elimination. Players who enter one of these qualifying events will not be obligated to show up in any of the other Sunday events, however we hope to attract players who are interested in scoring high enough to return for the monthly finale. It will include largely boosted prizes from the qualifiers, and be pushed as one of our most prestigious events in recent history. If all goes well, we can push this as a recurring monthly format for competition in Infinity Wars.




Weekday events are being considered as an alternative test for league play, otherwise there will be less weekday events that would be exhibitions. Variety events will continue but we prefer to focus on standardizing competitive play before branching out again. We're looking for player-run events to sponsor as well, and free up Thursdays and Fridays to see what players come up with.
A good example would be Benionin's Iron-Willed Chef Tournament that was held in July.




Basically rewards are getting boosted across the board. This Saturday we're giving away a few more IB cards for the top-placing competitors along with LP, packs and Rift tokens. The leading downside to generalized rewards is that they don't equally benefit players who do/don't have a full collection of cards, or players who do/don't care for premium-borders.

I will be speaking with our Community Mods to discuss ways to balance this out, such as offering "lean" options where if you prefer package B, for example, that package has more Rift Tokens and less Penta-Packs. This way, players who need a fix for rift runs can compete to skip the IP grind, while other players that are just short on cards can opt for a prize package focused on Penta-Packs. Or maybe even getting an LP-focused package so you can choose what you want, but with a slight value penalty for having "the skeleton key" of choice. The operative idea here is to make sure that prizes are actually worth something. It's not enough that they're "bigger." While creating a standard is important, the prize needs to be useful to specific individuals with varying preferences.

Giving rewards to streamers will now be a standard, and we're experimenting with some new methods. This Saturday, players who stream for as long as they are in the tournament will not only receive two Penta-Packs and two Rift Tokens. Should they place in the top 8, the player's LP reward will be increased by 25%. More will be done in this area going forward, as we really value our streaming players who promote the game in doing so.




Anyone who has seen a tournament cast of mine knows that, while I try to do a good job, a few realities are in play. A. I'm not the best caster in the world, and B. we should have a variety anyways.

New hosts are being sought out. Largenuggets and I won't be enough in case one of us becomes ill or otherwise tied up in the real world. We're looking for extra hosts who can assist at our usual event timings on the weekend. The objective here is to provide a variety of personalities to the audience, while giving these new volunteers some extra tournament experience without having to design the rules, or worry about handing out prizes. In bringing this mutual benefit, I'll see what I can do about giving rewards to players that help host events on a one-off basis. For anyone who comes to enjoy performing this role, it would be great to have such players on the host rotation semi-regularly with further benefit - perhaps some kind of recurring thank you in rift tokens, LP or something else.

Co-casting / Co-hosting is also paramount. As part of my interest in player spotlighting, I'd like to invite players to join me or another given host in a skype call and provide commentary for tournament matches being casted. This is an inclusive effort, and while all hosts of official events will be required to have some solid knowledge of card plays and the metagame, the guest can be anyone from a seasoned veteran to a newer player who is just getting started. They'll be joining in the cast commentary for matches, and will be spotlighted a bit while waiting for a new match to be available for casting. Send me a message if you'd like to participate in this capacity! I'll also be sending out invitations over time to several players.




It's in our interest to assist players in organizing tournaments. Whether you just want to try it once or more, whether you're already experienced or not: we can sponsor a few events each week at this time. What does that mean, exactly, to be sponsored? Yodomare will provide a small amount of prizes to help boost the attractiveness of your tournament, so that you are not stuck draining your collection of high-value cards. In addition, if you stream your event Twitch we can use the Host function they provide, to get your event some additional viewers, as well as social media advertising.

If you have an interest in getting some sponsored prizes or advertisement for your event, please contact me, DrewUniverse to discuss. Let me know if you're pretty well set and just need some prize support, or if you're new and inexperienced.

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If you made it through the entire post, thank you for reading! Let's build a great tournament experience together~

Hey folks, here is a list of the prizes that will be handed out on Monday for the leaderboard reset (mentioned in the latest weekly post - click here). It's been rolled around between IW staff as well as some of our seasoned players. We're going with this distribution for the first reset this Monday, and we're going to do a trial mini-season from September 5th thru September 30th. Depending on feedback this table may very well change, but it is not guaranteed.

**Note: All Infinity-Border cards awarded to players will be soul-bound (locked to your account)





25 Collection Penta-Packs

Individual Cards, Randomized:

1 (Gold-Foil) Legendary
1 (Gold-Foil) Epic
1 (Gold-Foil) Rare
1 (Gold-Foil) Uncommon
1 (Gold-Foil) Common
1 (Infinity Border) Legendary
1 (Infinity Border) Epic
1 (Infinity Border) Rare
1 (Infinity Border) Uncommon
1 (Infinity Border) Common






20 Collection Penta-Packs

Individual Cards, Randomized:

1 (Gold) Legendary
1 (Gold) Epic
1 (Gold) Rare
1 (Gold) Uncommon
1 (Gold) Common
1 (Infinity Border) Epic
1 (Infinity Border) Rare
1 (Infinity Border) Uncommon
1 (Infinity Border) Common






15 Collection Penta-Packs

Individual Cards, Randomized:

1 (Gold) Epic
2 (Gold) Rares
1 (Infinity Border) Epic
1 (Infinity Border) Rare
1 (Infinity Border) Uncommon






10 Collection Penta-Packs

Individual Cards, Randomized:

1 (Gold) Epic
1 (Infinity Border) Rare
1 (Infinity Border) Uncommon






8 Collection Penta-Packs

Individual Cards, Randomized:

1 (Gold) Rare
1 (Infinity Border) Rare





[/color]
5 Collection Penta-Packs

Individual Cards, Randomized:

1 (Gold) Uncommon
1 (Infinity Border) Uncommon






2 Collection Penta-Packs

Individual Cards, Randomized:

1 (Gold) Common
1 (Infinity Border) Common

Hey folks. I’d like to lead off this update with a few major, systemic topics. Last month we ran a month-long IP boost event where IP gained was doubled in Ranked and Normal game modes. We extended that event a few extra days to line up with the most recent patch. We believe that the grind was a bit too hard before that. Therefore, we are keeping half of that boost active. The IP gained per match will now be increasing by 50% for the foreseeable future. This is active now - please enjoy the increased card acquisition!




As mentioned in previous announcements, it has been planned to work toward making the Ranked leaderboard reset on a more frequent basis. To start with, we will reset the boards on Monday, September 5th. The duration of this first trial “season” will be one month. The current plan is to reset on the last day each month, GMT/IWT, but it is possible that this may change in the future. Prizes will be given based on position in the leaderboard, and these items will show up at the inventory screen. I still need confirmation on the first wave of prizes, I'll post them when I know more. Do know that we are making one change with this reset for now: Draws will not be subtracting or adding any points.

Long-term we will be settled on a particular frequency - it is likely to be monthly. In the meantime we are going to monitor how the current points system in Ranked mode operates when it is built up and reset after only a month, before we consider adjusting the system further. Insofar we have had to look at the system from a standpoint of the leaderboard being active for far too many months, and we need to see it operate on a shorter timeline to make the right calls going forward.




We’ve observed a lot of commentary on these two aspects recently. Despite putting a fix in for Draft matchmaking, for example, that mode is still giving some players a very long waiting period. These are cases where we have confirmed that multiple players were available, and the queue should be picking up players within ~5 minutes. Instead some players are experiencing 30-minute queues. As an aside, please keep in mind that matches are between two players in a peer-to-peer connection style. If one or both users have a poor internet connection - be it due to packet loss, an intermittent wi-fi signal and so on - there is not much we can do about the status of the ISP being used, routers and so on.

One reason we’ve determined is that IW might be getting hindered by a peer-blocking element of certain antivirus programs. Disabling this feature or at least whitelisting Infinity Wars has proven to remove the long queue times for some players, but not all. Several players have also reported connection issues when it comes to logging into IW, too. As a result, we’re looking at upgrading our server tech to try and help with both of these things. I don’t have a date for you, and when I know more I’ll provide an update on this front.

Campaign News

The next campaign is now closer to a feasible deployment. No date at this time, however I bring more good news with this: An additional faction campaign has been confirmed to follow behind this next one we are working on! That’s two more factions that will definitely be getting a 5-6 mission campaign to start with, including a free deck upon completion of all missions. Woohoo!




More card previews? Sure! Two more cards were revealed at the tournament stream on Sunday, and I’ll share them here.

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First, we have the Lost Knight. Previously with the Flame Dawn,
he now aligns with the Exiles. That arm..




Next, this is the Truth Seeper of Solace.
Definitely some mind's-eye stuff going on here.