Hello friends!
The thrilling search for the KARDS World Champion is in full swing, with Stage 2 just around the corner.
Championship structure
First, let's recall that the
KARDS World Championship is conducted in several stages.
- Stage 1 is the qualification and currently under way. The top 64 from that stage go directly to Stage 3, the tournament. Everyone else who qualified will go to Stage 2.
- Stage 2, which is upcoming, is the Challenger stage. Here, the bulk of the qualified players from Stage 1 will compete for the top 64 spots which then proceed to Stage 3.
- Stage 3 is the 128 person single-elimination tournament. The top-4 of that tournament will qualify for the Finals 2019. Matches here can be best of 3 or best of 5 in higher stages.
- Stage 4 are the Finals. The top four players from Stage 3 will be flown to Iceland to battle for the title of KARDS World Champion 2019!
Without further ado, let's dive right into the details about Stage 2!
How to qualify for Stage 2
The most important question first: How do you qualify for Stage 2?
The answer: Reach the Officer Club before the end of September (September 30, 23-59-59 GMT)! That is all you need to do to be able to compete in Stage 2.
You reach the Officer Club by climbing the ranks and become Field Marshal in at least three nations.
Furthermore, if you finish in the top 64 in the Officer Club you qualify directly for Stage 3.
What to expect in Stage 2
In Stage 2, you will compete with your chosen constructed decks in a special Qualifier queue to score points. At the end of Stage 2, the 64 players with the most points will advance to Stage 3.
When to play in Stage 2
Stage 2 will be fought over a period of three weekends.
- October 5th and 6th
- October 12th and 13th
- October 19th and 20th
On each of these three Saturdays and three Sundays the Qualifier queues will be open between
16:00 and 20:00 GMT time.
These form six distinct sessions for you to play in. The Qualifier queue contains only people competing in Stage 2.
How to start a match in Stage 2
During the dates and times mentioned above:
- Click on the World Championship icon on the main screen. This leads you to the World Championship menu.
- Click on the battle button in the World Championship menu. This leads you to your deck selection.
- Select a deck that you want to play with in this match.
- Play, have fun, and win! But even if you lose, you get points (check below).
How to score points
In each session, your first 9 games score you points. You can play more than 9 games if you want, those games give you stronger tiebreakers. For those first 9 games, a win gives you 5 points, a loss gives you 1 point.
So it is always best to try to complete all your games - finishing a session with 2 wins and 7 losses gives you more points for instance than just winning 3 and skipping the other six games. For each match, you get to select a deck to use same as when entering a Battle currently. So you can use the same deck throughout a session, or choose a different one every time, as you wish.
In-game leaderboard
A leaderboard shows the points of participants. This leaderboard is visible to all players, even those not qualified for Stage 2. You can also view a list of the 64 players already qualified for Stage 3 from finishing in the top 64 in the current Stage 1.
Here is a work-in-progress screenshot of the leaderboard screen (it is empty because no sessions have been played so far). At the top you can see the time until the next sessions start. Hovering over the info button at the top of the screen (beside the timer) will give you a quick overview of the rules for Stage 2), similar to what this dev blog is doing. At the bottom you can select which stage to view, it allows you to see which 64 players qualified automatically for Stage 3 in Stage 1.
Here we see a similar screenshot where a session is in progress. You see an overview of your 9 scoring match and your total score for the session. The Battle button allows you to select a deck and then puts you in the Qualifier queue. When a session has started, you see how much time remains. You can still finish (and score) a game that ends after the session ends, as long the game started before the session expired. In this special case, you have 30 minutes to finish the game.
You score points for all the sessions you participate in, but for the leaderboard (and hence the competition for being in the top 64) only your best three sessions count. This means having a bad session is not the end of the world as you can always make up in another session, plus if you are limited on time you can simply play in three sessions and call it quits.
Hovering over the info button beside your name will give you an overview of your sessions so far, and the dates of upcoming sessions. For completed sessions you can see what score you achieved and whether the session counts as one of your three best ones.
Tiebraker system
If players end up with the same score, a tiebreaker system is used to order them. Tiebreakers are based on several things, the most important being the strength of your opponents. So being matched against a very strong player might make for a difficult match, but at the very least your tiebreakers will improve regardless of the result. For further info, check out the rules (
Challenger Stage - Tiebraker Score)
Ruleset
The World Championship is entering more serious stages soon, so in accordance it is important for us to lay down the law on the
rules of engagement. All kinds of issues and disputes can arise and we want to have some framework on how to tackle these. So we’ve put together a document on the matter, take a look for more details if you are interested.
That’s it for now, we will bring you more information on Stage 3 as that draws closer. If you are not yet in the Officer Club, or if you are fighting for a chance at the top 64, the next few days will be hectic.
Extra rewards for everyone
To sweeten the deal a little bit we will have
extra rewards over the weekend for first wins of the day - on both Saturday and Sunday you will get an extra draft ticket as a reward for your first win of the day. This is on top of the extra season rewards this month, plus the
extra card back you get for finishing in the Officer Club.
Happy hunting!
Naval Bombardment is a cheap answer to a myriad of threats, but in its current incarnation it is a bit too narrow against a diverse field. The US already have conditional frontline removal in Awoken Giant and Torpedo Attack, Naval Bombardment being in the same boat seemed a bit too much.
