Community Spotlight: KARDS Topdeckers
Hello everyone!
The KARDS community is filled with players of diverse backgrounds with varied viewpoints. Many of its members create contributions that enrich the community, providing, for example, entertainment or guidance to other community members. Through the relaunch of the KARDS Contributor Program, we aim to provide added support to contributors, as well as to highlight the various contributions of KCP members to the KARDS community.
This month, the community spotlight is on the KARDS Topdeckers team!
[h2]KARDS Topdeckers Team[/h2]
The Topdeckers team is composed of 4 members who work together to create the content they post on their YouTube channel every week. They primarily create full length videos ranging anywhere from 15 minutes and all the way up to 1-2 hours long. They also create shorts as well as host occasional streams with some of the content creators they partner with. You can find all their content in one handy place on the KARDS Topdeckers YouTube channel.
KARDS Topdeckers’ content is, as they describe, “made by the community for the community”. The content is driven by those who watch it which allows them to tailor their videos to the regular KARDS player. The bread and butter of the channel are player showcase matches where viewers can see their favorite KARDS Players go head-to-head in a casual and entertaining environment. The Topdeckers team releases new videos typically every Sunday, with the occasional “Midweek Madness” upload, which, as the name suggests, are secondary videos released during the week.
[h3]Innocent Bubbles[/h3]
A long-standing member of KARDS and its community, Innocent Bubbles (Bubbles) is the manager of the Topdeckers team as well as a producer. Bubbles started playing KARDS in mid-2019 when he found it on Steam while browsing for CCGs to play. The mechanics were something that initially interested him and he particularly enjoyed the old 2/3 statted 34th infantry a lot. Gradually, KARDS began to act more as a platform for Bubbles to express himself and so his favorite aspect of the game became the community, which allowed him to do the things he enjoys doing.
Bubbles’s favorite card is the Kuban Cossacks, which he loves for its simplicity, but also especially adores the card’s artwork. His current favorite deck is the “Femboy Heinz” introduced to him by Baron von Glower, 4th runner up in the latest OCC: Ultimate tournament. Bubbles fell in love with its high stakes gameplay: “The feeling of out pacing decks built to be fast is something incredible you just have to experience to understand.”
[h3]YaBoiRodri[/h3]
YaBoiRodri (Rodri) is the editor of the Topdeckers team. He started playing KARDS in early 2020, in the early stages of the COVID quarantine. A YouTube ad for the game caught his attention and he decided to give the game a go as it seemed new, relaxed, and could be played while attending online classes. He wasn’t the biggest CCG fan but found himself “amazed at how neatly KARDS ties gameplay with historical diversity and accuracy, whilst maintaining a fun and balanced environment.” Rodri expresses that he appreciates how supportive the KARDS community is - it was the first game he tried streaming on Twitch and he made a lot of friends that way.
Rodri’s favorite card is the G4M1 Betty. It’s a card that he expresses isn’t quite competitive enough and doesn’t see much play, but brings back fond memories from his early days in KARDS when he and his friends would joke around it, and he has a deck that synergizes with it which he still plays to this day. His favorite deck archetypes at the moment are decks such as Fast Heinz and Brit Air - staples which have helped him a lot over past seasons. With the Brothers in Arms expansion, he’s now been enjoying his US Frontline deck.
[h3]JQueen7[/h3]
JQueen7 (JQueen) is the graphic designer of the Topdeckers team, designing thumbnails and any other static visual assets you’ll see in their videos. She started playing KARDS in early 2021, when she was originally introduced to it by community members Jking7 and Berto Burrito. She was drawn to the visuals of the game as well as its community, which provided a good venue to interact with other people playing the game. Her favorite aspect of KARDS has been meeting new people and experiencing the wide range of content creators around it who constantly expand the community’s knowledge of the game. She loves the creativity of the community, especially when it comes to memes: “I have a soft spot in my heart for people who make personalized meme cards and put a ridiculous amount of effort into a silly little KARDS joke. I also love the memes with Jking’s face that I have seen coming from the Chinese community, those crack me up every time.”
JQueen’s favorite card is the Panzer 35t - a reliable little tank that she loves blitzing up to the frontline for free. Her favorite deck was the Japan/Germany Feigned Retreat Jaggro, which she’s still looking to find a suitable replacement for as her favorite deck since the Brothers in Arms expansion with Feigned Retreat rotating into the Reserved pool.
[h3]Red Sun[/h3]
A prominent community member that has been around almost since the dawn of KARDS, Red Sun is as a producer on the Topdeckers team. He started playing the game in early 2019, drawn to the game by a pre-roll commercial that played before a Mark Felton video. The artstyle immediately captured Red Sun’s attention, who describes the event as the “best (and probably only) YouTube ad I’ve ever clicked on!” Red Sun also expresses an appreciation for the KARDS community, where he’s connected with many great people. He says his favorite thing about the KARDS community is “The sparkling eyes of a (new) player who is now a freshly baked Field Marshal after you’ve helped them.”
Red Sun’s favorite card should come as no surprise to those who know him: “1st Signal Regiment, 24k gold-plated”. His favorite archetype at the moment are the Japan/US destruction effects.
[h2]Advice for New Players[/h2]
When asked about their advice for new players in KARDS, each of the Topdeckers team members had some valuable insights to share.
Bubbles: Enjoy yourself - I often see people worrying about the future of their favorite games and the length at which those games will exist. It’s only normal to worry about the things we care about, but I know I’d much rather look back at years of enjoyment than years of worrying about losing that source of enjoyment. Sit back, enjoy today and let the dev team worry about tomorrow.
Rodri: Watch others play. Everyone plays in a different way and there’s a lot to learn from every player. Much of my early days on KARDS were spent watching streams and discussing in voice channels. Who knows, you might also make some good friends :)
JQueen: Try to have fun and experiment with whatever you enjoy playing. It’s cool to take the game seriously but don’t let yourself fall into a toxic mentality because of it. If you want to optimize your experience, definitely check out community content, many pro players have videos that could help you understand the meta and guide you a bit in your first steps in KARDS. Not to shamelessly advertise but Topdeckers has some nice shorts about some deck archetypes, and Jking has a beginner’s guide that could come in handy as well hehe.
Red Sun: Don’t be afraid to ask for advice, there’s literally no shame in doing so! Most community members I know will not hesitate answering your questions, provide advice with deck building or just help you with picking the right cards during your draft run!
[h2]Topdeckers’ Content[/h2]
Make sure to check out some of Topdeckers varied content on the KARDS Topdeckers YouTube Channel!
[h3]Showcase Match: TB273 vs. Jking7[/h3]
https://youtu.be/nL0bhg7zcwM
[h3]Deck Review: Bubbles Tries Out New Pincer-Heinz Deck[/h3]
https://youtu.be/yCdkpqRqQ0s
[h3]Short: #KARDS Rotation? What Is It and How Does It Work?[/h3]
https://youtube.com/shorts/QkM93KZWKoU
[h3]Stream: Bubbles Plays the New Expansion + Giveaways[/h3]
https://www.youtube.com/live/Zw9cZCu-g7I
We hope you’ve enjoyed getting to know the KARDS Topdeckers team better! Make sure you stay tuned for next month, where we bring you another community spotlight featuring different KARDS contributors. Join us on the official KARDS Discord server and let us know if there’s anything you’d like to see us cover in these articles in the future!