KARDS - The WWII Card Game News

Hello all!

It is time for an update on our World Championship Grand Finals!

On October 31st we qualified four players for the Grand Finals, and the following day started working to bring them over to Iceland for the final showdown.

Unfortunately, due to the state of covid in the world, our Chinese competitors were unable to travel to Iceland for the period of the Grand Finals, a prerequisite for competing for the world championship. As such, we have had to replace three competitors from the top 4. For more information on how we are rewarding these players, please see the end of the article.

Instead the runners up in the elimination bracket will take their place. This means our top four players traveling to Iceland, competing for the title of World Champion and their share of the $10.000 prize pool are….. Drumroll please!

[h2]The Champions of the 2021 KARDS World Championship[/h2]

[h3]Viebator[/h3]

Viebator is a veteran of the game, having placed 2nd in the first two seasons of KARDS ever held. Viebator stormed his way to a decisive season win during the third season of KARDS in June 2019. Having reached the pinnacle of the game at the time, Viebator took an extended break only returning recently, “just in time to win worlds” as he says in his own words.

[h3]Jking7[/h3]

Jking7 is a familiar name for anyone that has followed KARDS for the past couple of years. Having won 15 seasons of KARDS or around 48% of all KARDS seasons that have been played, no player wants to stare across the battlefield and see Jking7 as his opponent. He has also proven himself in a tournament setting and is currently tied for the most Officer Club Championship wins in KARDS history, having secured the title four times.

[h3]Darkness[/h3]

Darkness is another long standing veteran of the KARDS scene, having placed near the top of the ladder more often than not and has secured himself three season wins. Darkness is a decorated tournament player as well, having won back to back KARDS Opens when they first began and secured himself in the top 8 of the Officers Club Championship on multiple occasions. Darkness is a prolific streamer www.twitch.tv/darkness4gaming and one of the more popular content creators in KARDS, allowing those interested to peak inside the brain of a top KARDS player.

[h3]Bison[/h3]

Bison is the “youngest” player of the four in terms of time spent in KARDS, having played since February 2020 but he has been a regular near the top of the ladder in recent months. Bison might not have a season or tournament win under his belt, but this fired up Frenchman is coming for the win in the World Championship Grand finals.

[h2]Date and Time[/h2]

The Grand Finals for the KARDS 2021 World Championship will be played live from Iceland on the 4th and 5th of December. The action will commence at 13:00 each day with every second of it broadcast live on our Twitch channel www.twitch.tv/kardsccg

Make sure you tune in and catch the epic finale of the 2021 KARDS World Championship.

[h2]Chinese invitational[/h2]

With Covid-19 ramping up again and increased restrictions starting to take effect, our fantastic finalists from China were unable to make the trek to Iceland and participate in the Grand Finals. We are, however, extremely impressed by their achievements and don’t want them to go unrecognized!

This is why we will be hosting a special edition invitational tournament on January 26th for the top World Championship candidates from the Chinese community with a prize pool of $5000!

The invitational will feature the three players unable to make it to Iceland for the WC Grand Finals, as well as, a legend of the game from the Chinese community in Fenrir, a back to back World Championship quarter finalist! With this, the field is set for the ultimate showdown within the Chinese community.

[h2]Invitational Participants[/h2]

[h3]CCMS-031[/h3]

CCMS-031 is our reigning World Champion haven risen from relative obscurity during the last World Championship in 2020, CCMS proved himself as one of the top minds in KARDS through his dominant performance in the 2020 Grand Finals, securing him the coveted title of World Champion. He’ll be looking to extend his winning streak by taking home first place in the invitational.

[h3]cu元素收集大师[/h3]

cu元素收集大师 has become a staple of the KARDS competitive scene, securing multiple appearances in tournament playoffs and securing a back to back spot in the semi-finals of the KARDS World Championship. Cu元素收集大师 is ready to secure his name in the history books for KARDS with a win during the invitational.

[h3]孙笑川258[/h3]

孙笑川258 is a veteran of the draft queue, having conquered most challenges in the draft queue 孙笑川258 has relatively recently started making a splash within the competitive scene but from his appearances it is clear this is a talented player. He is now on the quest of building his legacy within the KARDS community and a win during the invitational would be the perfect start.

[h3]Fenrir[/h3]

Fenrir is a longstanding KARDS player having started playing well before the game released. He appeared in the Grand Finals top 4 in Iceland for the 2019 KARDS World Championship and qualified for the Grand Finals again in 2020. Fenrir primarily plays draft, but when he makes the venture over to constructed people are bound to be shaking in their boots. Having been fairly inactive over the recent months, it will be interesting to see how the Chinese veteran, Fenrir, fares against the young and hungry competitors waiting for him in the invitational.

Make sure to keep your eyes peeled for further updates on the 2021 KARDS World Championship Grand Finals as well as the Chinese Invitational!

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Thrilling news from KARDS: New cards, improvements, card balance changes, and alternate art have arrived on the battlefield in KARDS with the latest World at War - Battle of Britain update on November 18th!

[h2]World at War: Battle of Britain[/h2]

Our first World at War update is themed around the famous Battle of Britain and focuses on air operations - just like its historical counterpart.

Explore new options and strategies with our new Battle of Britain cards such as the iconic Eagle Day and honor the war efforts of the Observer Corps by giving them a new home in your decks.

This first World at War update comes with 7 unique new cards (35 in total). Included in the premium version is also the first alternate art in KARDS!

[h2]Get your new Battle of Britain cards[/h2]



KARDS is entirely free to play and stays like this. You can obtain the new Battle of Britain cards in many ways:

1. Create the new Battle of Britain cards with wildcards (nation-specific or all-purpose type)
   
2. Get the standard Battle of Britain bundle for in-game gold
   
3. Get the standard Battle of Britain bundle for real currency
   
4. Upgrade your existing standard Battle of Britain bundle to the premium version with real currency
   
5. Get the premium Battle of Britain version for real currency

The premium version of the Battle of Britain also contains our first alternate art for some of our most iconic cards, such as Carpet Bombing.

[h2]Card balance included[/h2]

We also include a nifty card balance revamp that incorporates your good community feedback.

Some notoriously underused cards, especially of elite rarity (e.g., C47 Skytrain), got an overhaul and subsequently a considerable boost.

Other cards that have been more on the naughty side have been closely examined and then received modifications (e.g., 2nd California or Obice da 75/13).

Check out our detailed blog about these balance changes.

[h2]Next World at War update on the horizon[/h2]

This World at War - Battle of Britain update was the first in a series of updates stretching over the next half year. We bring regular updates now: A new update will arrive almost every month now!

With the World at War updates, we want to satisfy several demands:

• Release new cards more often
  
• Provide strong, coherently themed, and history-aligned bundles to ease access to KARDS
  
• Deliver regular exciting content for new and veteran players alike
  
• Trying out new methods to deliver precisely defined content (additional to the current card draws from packs)

Each of the World at War updates focuses on a specific historical theme and comes with a bundle of new and existing cards to support each theme.

The Battle of Britain was our first World at War update; the next one will follow in January.

Let us know what you think of our new World at War - Battle of Britain and use the comments below or chat with the developers on our KARDS Discord!

Hello friends!

Battle of Britain is about to begin and we want to launch it with some extra fireworks. A balance patch fits the bill, alongside Battle of Britain giving a good mix of new and old to shake things up.

Overall, the meta has been fairly stable over the last month or two. Brit Air and Alpine remain top dogs and a new hound, Katy OTK, is causing some chewing damage. As a response, control decks, especially German and British based, have been on the rise. On the side we have several more decks putting up good numbers, such as US aggro, Commandos and Jap Resistance. All these decks, and more, are performing well, but none to the point of breaking the format. Still, shaking the antfarm a bit is always good to encourage players to experiment some more.

We have also collaborated with the community to get suggestions on a few elites that see little or no play to receive some facelift. There is one elite buff for each main nation, all based on suggestions from the community. Thank you for your feedback!

With all this in mind, let’s take a look at the changes coming your way next Thursday, November 18th. As usual, we will start going through the cards we are nerfing, then a couple of sections of card buffs, first for cards that see little play and then cards we want to change for strategic reasons.

[h2]Cards We Are Nerfing[/h2]



Being able to infuriate anyone will inevitably cause issues at some point, my mom used to tell me. Well, for 5. Panzergrenadier, that point has arrived. Instead of limiting the Fury giving capabilities of the unit, we instead opted to make it into something that encouraged people to play as many Pincer units as possible. Who knows? Maybe down the road more goodies will arrive to make this deck a real contender.



The Alpine deck has truly reached the summit of the meta in recent weeks and when it curves out it can be a steep hill to climb back into the game for the opponent. While we like the new ability of the Obice, we do acknowledge that dealing with a huge artillery unit to boot is a bit too much to ask for many decks. So we are keeping the ability the same, but the Obice no longer has the Alpine keyword.



The US aggro/midrange deck centered around cards, such as 32nd Infantry Regiment, M4 Sherman and 507th PIR, has been gaining momentum lately and they all use the super effective Catalina as backup. The bomber does a little too much for its stats, so we are scaling the defense back a bit to make it easier to deal with.



The love/hate relationship people have with this unit proves that all’s fair in love and war, but the Flower Power of the 2nd California is turning the dream of playing Kards into a nightmare for many. As a company, we of course want people to make war rather than love, or we would be out of business, so the flower boy is being pruned a bit. While it still packs a punch, it now has a harder time dominating the battlefield than before.



Scorched Earth staked its claim as the poster child of non-interactive decks a long time ago. These decks have tended to fly under the radar a bit, but their recent resurgence have cast the spotlight on Scorched Earth at last. The main issue with the old version was when a unit was hit multiple times by one, effectively taking it out of the battle. So we are changing the card so that stacking no longer is an issue. This new version may also lead to Scorched Earth seeing its number bolstered in other archetypes.

[h2]Cards That Nobody Loves[/h2]



One drops are always tricky to balance, they tend to be either really good or horribly bad. The 28th is still hunting for a home and we are providing it with some solid ammunition in its quest.



The Skytrain saw few takers when it flew around distributing candy and kredits. Now that it is distributing small Americans hungry for a fight, things may change. Some of them may even be carrying candy to boot.



The fabled Foreign Legion has turned out to be foreigners to most decks, which is a shame for such an iconic unit. They have agreed to go on a diet to be cheaper to maintain, so you can now operate them more easily. Is this a lean, mean fighting machine in the making? Or are they resistant to change?



Here is another iconic unit that rarely sees play except when rolling out of some factories in the Urals. This change should strike fear into anyone facing them on the battlefield, as history dictates it should. And with their fancy new cost they still have a healthy relationship with their Ural overlords.



Wellington? More like Not-Well-ington, right? Ok, ok. The old Wellington suffered from too narrow of a scope of a single turn, the new one has broadened its horizon to the whole battle. And it has Blitz. Beware of Blitz.



The new Panzerzug is now finally ready to deliver real pain to where it belongs - your face! While this may not be everyone’s cup of tea and not find a home in every deck, do not be surprised to see it disrupt some tea parties down the road every now and then.



It is likely that the illusionary Japan air deck needs more pieces than just a Rule the Skies overhaul to become reality, but this is a good step in the right direction and certainly makes this card more of a contender.

[h2]Cards Receiving Some Love[/h2]



Straight up traditional tokens have been taking the backseat for awhile now and we want to give them a bit of a handout and see if they can be revived.



This change is not going to shake up the top tier meta much, but at lower levels and in draft, a 2/7 Churchill is a tough beast to fight through, especially when paired with something like Naval Support.



The Coastal Gun is right on the fringe of being a decent finisher in lower-tier British mid-range/control decks (and even some higher-tier deck lists). The newer version deals slightly less damage, but it is both more resilient and works better with any kinds of buffs, like the aforementioned Naval Support.



The ATS can provide constant card advantage for very specific decks, like burn or bomber/artillery based decks. While these decks are not very viable at the moment, a cheaper ATS can help enable them.



Root Out The Enemy sees a decent amount of play, but its current iteration suffers from being a bit too situational. The new version is on the whole a lot stronger, so expect to see even more of it in the future. Note that one change we are making alongside this is to allow units with 0-attack to attack.



Target Acquired can be a solid option in certain decks, that either can attack easily (bomber/artillery decks or small unit decks) or have a problem dealing with large units. It will not fit into every deck, but can be a good choice in some.

[h2]Zero-attack units[/h2]
Please note that, as mentioned above, we also allow units with 0-attack to attack now.


That is all, these changes will hit the live server alongside the Battle of Britain cards on November 18th. Keep your eye out for the full patch notes at that time. Please continue giving us your feedback, it is very valuable to us. Thanks and see you on the battlefield, commander!

Dear KARDS players, friends, and WWII enthusiasts,

It is with great pleasure and excitement that we present the freshly updated KARDS roadmap.

[h3]What the roadmap is and what it is not[/h3]

The roadmap is a regularly updated, high-level overview of the milestones and important events for KARDS. The roadmap contains only the highest level of features.

Not on the roadmap are regular updates and improvements, seasonal in-game events, the esports calendar with monthly and bi-monthly opportunities, and general KARDS refinements. Balancing changes are also not listed on the roadmap, even though they are integral to our continuous work on KARDS.

[h3]World at War[/h3]

World at War is a new series of updates that stretches over the next half year and brings regular updates rapidly: Five updates will arrive from now to next summer.

Each of the World at War updates focuses on a specific historical theme and comes with a bundle of new and existing cards to support each theme.

Read more about this new series of updates in our World at War announcement blog.

[h3]KARDS Mobile[/h3]

Highly anticipated, we are working full steam ahead on the mobile version of KARDS for iOS and Android. The mobile version introduces full cross-platform play and allows you to connect and play KARDS anywhere and anytime.

We will start with a closed Alpha version and then increasingly expand its accessibility as we march closer to the release date planned for this summer. We will have, of course, special announcements on mobile development and how you can participate before the official release.

Keep in mind that this roadmap is a living document and that the events further in the future will receive more info as time passes.

Without further ado, let's have a look at what we can expect in the coming months!

[h2]KARDS Living Roadmap [/h2]



[h3]November 18: World at War - Battle of Britain[/h3]

One of the highlights this winter is the first World at War update. This is the first update in our World at War series and focuses on the famous Battle of Britain as its theme.

[h3]December: World Championship Finals[/h3]

The second highlight this winter is the KARDS World Championship! Like the previous World Championships, we will enjoy a grand final in Iceland with our four champions.

[h3]January: Release: World at War[/h3]

After the holidays and fresh in the new year comes the second World at War update. Like the first World at War update, this release revolves around a specific theme inspired by real WW2 history.

[h3]January: KARDS Mobile: Alpha[/h3]

A milestone highlight for KARDS is the mobile alpha release in January. As this is the first step towards the release, the alpha version will have some restrictions (to be gradually relaxed over time).

[h3]February: Release: World at War[/h3]

Our third World at War update introduces new cards and brings new visual excitement.

[h3]March: Release: World at War[/h3]

The World at War series continues with new cards, a new theme, and more goodies.

[h3]Q2: 2nd KARDS Anniversary[/h3]

On April 15th, 2022, we celebrate the second anniversary of KARDS. Expect goodies and extra fun!

[h3]Q2: Release: World at War[/h3]

The final World at War update before the mobile release! Get your troops ready for some major action.

[h3]Summer: KARDS Mobile: Release[/h3]

The KARDS mobile release for Android and iOS is planned for Summer 2022. The mobile version introduces full cross-platform play and allows you to connect and play KARDS anywhere and anytime you want.

This roadmap is painted in broad strokes and shows only the highest level of what we have planned. There are many smaller features and improvements which will come along the road.

The whole team is thrilled about the future and would love to hear your feedback! Join our KARDS Discord or use the comments below.

This is a minor KARDS patch to fix a bug with incorrectly messaging a server maintenance when there was no such maintenance.

[h2]Bug fixes and Improvements[/h2]

• In some cases, when starting up the client, a message was shown saying the server was under maintenance when it was not. Fixed.