Introducing KARDS Allegiance mechanics
Exciting news from the KARDS team for December. The upcoming weeks are filled with events and updates such as the World Championship 2019 Finals on December 7/8 (live broadcast), the first-ever KARDS expansion Allegiance arriving on December 10, and the localized version of KARDS with five new languages.
Let's have a look at the amazing new mechanics coming with the Allegiance expansion and reveal an important change also arriving on December 10. First the short version, then the details further below. With Allegiance you will be able to:
This is only a fraction of the new expansion! Other big changes coming with Allegiance, the two now nations and their new game mechanics, will be presented a bit later in a dedicated blog.
Now, let's dive right into the details!
The first of these is an ability found on several US and Soviet orders that allow the player to select between two options when playing the card from hand. This essentially means that these cards act like two different cards spliced into one, which gives a lot of flexibility when playing based on the situation and what the opponent is up to. Naturally, this flexibility comes at a price, so the effect is a little more costly than if found on a card with just that one effect. Let’s look at one of the new US orders arriving with the winter expansion:
CARRIER COVER is like a combination of The War Machine and Naval Bombardment. Paying 4 kredits for this effect would not be great on its own, but the flexibility here makes this card much more useful in any game - against decks that are pressuring you, you can buy yourself time by sending a unit to their hand and against slower decks you can play this as ramp as you are less likely to need to spend your kredits on keeping yourself alive. It even has the extra flexibility of allowing you to bounce your own unit to hand, to save a damaged unit or re-trigger a powerful deployment effect.
As stated above, this mechanic is only found on orders right now. It is most common with the US, with Soviets also getting a few. We want this to be a primary ability for the US to reflect how their strong industrial base allowed for varied fighting capabilities and superior adaptability.
Another new mechanic is a twist on drawing a card. Instead of drawing the top card of your deck directly, this mechanic allows you to look at the top three cards of your deck and select one to add to your hand. The other two are then placed on the bottom of your deck. Here is an example of one:
This new effect can be on either an order or a unit. It is limited to Germany in the new set. This ability is very powerful as it allows you to dig for the answers you need based on the situation and strengthens any kind of combos and synergies in your deck as finding the right pieces is now more consistent. The reason for making this a primary ability for Germany is to reflect their focus on flexible battle doctrine and tactical diversity.
There is one more thing to cover and it’s a doozy. An important rule change for deck construction will be put into effect when the expansion goes live. From the 10th of December and onward, you cannot use ally elite cards in your decks. Existing decks will be invalid until updated. Only elite cards from the major nation are eligible.
There are several reasons for this change, let’s cover the most important ones:
We’ve been testing these changes internally and the results have been very positive so far. The ban on ally elites opens up a lot of new possibilities and expands on what cards to use, as the same ol’ elite cards are no longer just an auto-include.
To reiterate, these changes are only happening when the expansion goes live on December 10 - the World Championship Finals are not affected for instance.
Let us know what you think about these new game mechanics in the discussions below!
Let's have a look at the amazing new mechanics coming with the Allegiance expansion and reveal an important change also arriving on December 10. First the short version, then the details further below. With Allegiance you will be able to:
- New orders: Select between two possible effects
- New orders and units: Review the top three cards of your deck, and draw one. The other two cards go to the bottom of your deck
- Have Elite cards only in your major nation as you cannot use Elite cards in your ally nations any more
This is only a fraction of the new expansion! Other big changes coming with Allegiance, the two now nations and their new game mechanics, will be presented a bit later in a dedicated blog.
Now, let's dive right into the details!
The Power of Choice
The first of these is an ability found on several US and Soviet orders that allow the player to select between two options when playing the card from hand. This essentially means that these cards act like two different cards spliced into one, which gives a lot of flexibility when playing based on the situation and what the opponent is up to. Naturally, this flexibility comes at a price, so the effect is a little more costly than if found on a card with just that one effect. Let’s look at one of the new US orders arriving with the winter expansion:
CARRIER COVER is like a combination of The War Machine and Naval Bombardment. Paying 4 kredits for this effect would not be great on its own, but the flexibility here makes this card much more useful in any game - against decks that are pressuring you, you can buy yourself time by sending a unit to their hand and against slower decks you can play this as ramp as you are less likely to need to spend your kredits on keeping yourself alive. It even has the extra flexibility of allowing you to bounce your own unit to hand, to save a damaged unit or re-trigger a powerful deployment effect.
As stated above, this mechanic is only found on orders right now. It is most common with the US, with Soviets also getting a few. We want this to be a primary ability for the US to reflect how their strong industrial base allowed for varied fighting capabilities and superior adaptability.
The Right Tool for the Task
Another new mechanic is a twist on drawing a card. Instead of drawing the top card of your deck directly, this mechanic allows you to look at the top three cards of your deck and select one to add to your hand. The other two are then placed on the bottom of your deck. Here is an example of one:
This new effect can be on either an order or a unit. It is limited to Germany in the new set. This ability is very powerful as it allows you to dig for the answers you need based on the situation and strengthens any kind of combos and synergies in your deck as finding the right pieces is now more consistent. The reason for making this a primary ability for Germany is to reflect their focus on flexible battle doctrine and tactical diversity.
Not So Elite
There is one more thing to cover and it’s a doozy. An important rule change for deck construction will be put into effect when the expansion goes live. From the 10th of December and onward, you cannot use ally elite cards in your decks. Existing decks will be invalid until updated. Only elite cards from the major nation are eligible.
There are several reasons for this change, let’s cover the most important ones:
- First of all, in most cases this reduces the overall count of elite cards in decks, making it easier for newer players to get a competitive deck together.
- Secondly, this strengthens the identity of each nation, as many of their most iconic and powerful cards are now only seen when they are the major nation. This improves the overall immersion and makes it easier for players to learn what to expect from each nation, both when playing them and for deck construction.
- Finally, this helps us down the road when creating new cards, not having to worry that it can go into any deck and be combined easily with any other card in the game. This helps in creating cards that we want to be exclusive to a main nation for thematic or gameplay purposes, an example of such a card is The Commonwealth. It also helps in creating cards later that we want to be mutually exclusive or would be too powerful together - by making them elites in two different nations we can ensure that they can never be played together, something we have no control over right now.
We’ve been testing these changes internally and the results have been very positive so far. The ban on ally elites opens up a lot of new possibilities and expands on what cards to use, as the same ol’ elite cards are no longer just an auto-include.
To reiterate, these changes are only happening when the expansion goes live on December 10 - the World Championship Finals are not affected for instance.
Let us know what you think about these new game mechanics in the discussions below!