KARDS - The WWII Card Game News

This patch is all about the long-awaited new Draft mode.

• A new game mode is now available: Draft
  
  
  • A Draft is a set of up to nine matches against other players. You can play these matches at any time.
    
  • During a Draft, you play with a deck built by you from random cards.
    
  • You build a deck over several rounds after choosing your main and ally nation. Each round, you pick one out of three card stacks presented to. You continue picking cards until your deck of regular 40 cards is completed.
    
  • The Draft ends when you have either won 7 matches or lost 3 matches.
    
  • Once the Draft ends, you collect your rewards. Draft rewards become increasingly better with more matches won during the Draft.
    
  • One pack of cards is guaranteed as your reward (even with 0 wins).
    
  • Admission to the Draft costs either 15 gold or USD 1.95.
    
  
  
  
• Read more about the Draft mode in the full dev blog on Discord or a high level overview on Steam.
  
  
• The deck builder has been improved and updated to match the look and feel of the Draft deck builder.
  

• Some audio effects have been updated.
  
• The bomber attack animation shows the bomber flying a little lower now.
  

• When a card was discarded due to hand being full, their unit effects for leaving the battlefield are not triggered. Fixed.
  
• The showcase card has gigantic dimensions when hovering over a card being played from hand while another was exploding/playing some animation. Fixed
  
• Clicking on a board card doesn’t raise the card. Fixed.
  
• Completed and claimed Achievements keep showing up on the end-of-match window. Fixed.
  
• The AI using “Jade Unit” boosts enemy units in rare cases. Fixed.
  
• The AI can place more than four units in the support line in rare cases. Fixed.
  

A new play mode is coming to KARDS: We publish the long-awaited Draft mode on 4th of July!

Without further ado, let's get right into the exciting details.

• In draft, you construct a new deck from scratch by picking cards from a limited number of choices until you have a full 40 card deck.
  
  
• You won't pick cards from your collection, and the cards picked are not added to your collection. Instead, you pick from a certain set of cards.
  
  
• Once you have a draft deck ready, you can play against other players, each player using their own draft deck.
  
  
• The draft ends either when you lose your third game or when you have won 7 times. Once the draft is completed, you'll receive rewards based on how well you did in the draft.
  

Draft games do not affect your rank, but do count for achievements and daily missions. Your hidden matchmaking value is not used for draft games, but you are more likely to be matched against a player with similar score as you in the draft.

• You will always get 1 pack as a reward for the draft, regardless of number of wins (even 0 wins).
  
• Additionally, you will always get a bonus reward. The bonus can be anything from gold, resources, a card (can be golden) or even an extra pack. The bonus reward is randomly chosen, but the more wins you have, the better the bonus reward will be.
  
• Starting with 2 wins, you'll also get a fixed amount of gold. With 6 wins you are guaranteed to get enough gold to be able to pay for another draft immediately. With 7 wins you get two bonus rewards.
  

Because you are guaranteed at least one pack and the bonus rewards, entering Draft cannot be free.

• To enter a draft you can spend gold, money or a draft ticket. A draft costs 15 gold to enter, or $1.95.
  

All players that have been created before server-downtime on July 4th will receive 2 free draft tickets. The tickets will be ready in your accounts when the servers are back online.



You are most welcome to get a taste of draft with these free tickets!



Once you have entered a draft, the first thing that you will a tutorial window (one-time display only to provide a quick overview).

• The first choice you’ll have in Draft is selecting your main nation. After picking a few cards for your main nation you get a choice to pick an ally.
  
• After choosing your main nation, you start picking your cards. Each card pick has three slots of cards. For each slot a random card is chosen. This can be any card from the main and ally nation, of any rarity, though each pick has similar rarity ranges for each slot.
  
• There is also a chance that more than one copy is offered, up to 4 copies for a Standard card. This means that drafting can be as many as 40 clicks, but usually is less.
  
• As you make your picks, cards that you select are added to a deck visible at the bottom of the screen.
  
• You draft at your own leisure - there is no time pressure, you can go back in the middle of drafting a deck and even close the client and then continue where you left when you next enter the draft.
  
• Once you have your deck ready, you enter a draft battle in the draft menu itself.
  

You'll face interesting choices when picking cards:

Is it better to pick 3 solid standard cards, or a single decent limited card?
Or, you get the option to take 3 Eagle Claws. You want to run Eagle Claws, but 3 copies? Do you skip it now and hope it shows up again later, in lesser numbers? It can be a tough choice!

You can only have a single draft active at a time, so you will use the deck you drafted until you have won 7 games, lost 3 games or decide to retire from the draft. If you do retire, you will get the rewards based on the number of wins accumulated so far.



That's it in a nutshell. Let us know what you think!

See you on the draft battlefield on Thursday!

This patch is all about bug fixing and card balances!


For more in-depth details of the recent card changes, please read the latest dev blog Mind the Balance: Updates on twelve card.

• OVERWHELMING FORCE: Cost has been changed from 1 to 0.
  
• FOR FREEDOM: Cost has been lowered from 3 to 2.
  
• B-26 MARAUDER: When attacking enemy HQ, enemy units are +2 more expensive to operate instead of +1.
  
• HUDSON Mk III: Operation costs have been lowered from 3 to 2.
  
• 10.5 cm leFH: The on-deployment damage dealt to the enemy HQ has been lowered from 3 to 2.
  
• BLACKOUT: Reduction to pin only a targeted air unit (enemy needs to have an air unit on the board) from pinning all air units.
  
• 33rd RECON REGIMENT: Defense has been lowered to 2 (from 3).
  
• AICHI D3A-2: Defense has been lowered to 2 (from 3).
  
• B5N KATE: Defense has been lowered to 2 (from 3).
  
• 88 mm FLAK: Defense has been increased from 3 to 4.
  
• B-17 FLYING FORTRESS: Attack and Defense have been lowered to 5 each (from 6)
  
• PANZER 35(t): Operation costs is set now on deployment to -1 if you control an infantry unit (was 0 op cost any time as long as you control an infantry unit).
  

If 8th CAVALRY REGIMENT was added (for example by URAL FACTORIES, RED BANNER, or SEABORNE INVASION), your HQ was not immune on your turn. Fixed.
10th ENGINEERS BATTALION was sometimes getting its bonus multiple times (for example if it was added with SEABORNE INVASION and another card was played from hand in the same turn). Fixed.
PANZER IV F2 removed your own HQ under certain conditions. Fixed.
In some rare cases the m36 JACKSON got stuck on the screen when discarded. Fixed.
Hovering over the same card as the enemy at the same time did not show the "pop-up" version of the card. Fixed.
You could "re-grab" a recently played order when it was being played and drag it around the screen. Fixed.
Clicking on a unit, releasing it and clicking quickly on another unit in the same front with minimal delay would not create the target arrow. Fixed.
Deck builder

• Clicking the next button in collection while card info was open (even though the button was invisible) made you change pages and get stuck in card info view. Fixed
  
• When adding a standard card to your deck and when you had exactly two of those cards already in your library, the counter beneath the library card was incorrect. Fixed.
  
• After finishing editing a deck, mouse scroll in the deck editor results in graphic glitches. Fixed.
  

AI was not paying Kredits when playing CLOSE AIR SUPPORT. Fixed.
The AI would play M36 JACKSON if it was discarded by DIVINE WIND. Fixed.
When the AI bounced 85 PIONEER COMPANY then it did not change the cost of orders back. Fixed.
The AI did get only 1 Kredit when using WAR BONDS. Fixed
Several typos on various cards have been fixed.

• The following cards received a graphical overhaul
  
  • 45 mm ANTI-TANK GUN
    
  • ENIGMA
    
  • KUMAMOTO REGIMENT
    
• The British battlefield decoration "Sten Gun" has been updated.
  

We are working with full force on finishing Draft mode (expect more news in
the next couple weeks), but we still have steam for a small balance update!

Let’s have a look at the twelve newly updated cards and see what has been changed.

• Overwhelming Force introduces interesting tactical options which we want to promote a bit more. The cost has been changed from 1 to 0.
  
• For Freedom was a bit too expensive. The cost has been lowered from 3 to 2.
  
• B-26 Marauder is a bit underwhelming and has been improved so that enemy units now are +2 more expensive to operate instead of +1 when attacking the enemy HQ.
  
• Hudson Mk III could use some improvements. The operation costs have been lowered from 3 to 2.
  
• 88 mm Flak needed some improvement (especially due to its Ambush ability). Defense has been increased from 3 to 4.
  

• Blackout was a bit too efficient for its cost and rarity. Reduction to pin only a targeted air unit (enemy needs to have an air unit on the board) from pinning all air units.
  
• 33rd Recon Regiment was a bit too strong. Defense has been lowered from 3 to 2.
  
• Aichi D3A-2 and B5N Kate were too strong and have their defense lowered from 3 to 2.
  
• B-17 Flying Fortress is still too strong. Attack and Defense have been lowered from 6 to 5 each.
  
• 10.5 cm leFH was a bit too effective as burn unit. The damage to the enemy HQ on deployment has been lowered from 3 to 2.
  

• Panzer 35(t) effect has been changed from an ongoing dynamic effect to a static, on-deployment effect. Now, the operation cost is reduced by 1 if you control an infantry unit at deployment. Previously, the operation cost was calculated at every change on the board which was not very clear and caused confusion.
  

Please let us know in the comments below what you think and how you like these changes. Your feedback helps us tremendously!

For the 75th anniversary of D-Day we have planned exciting events in KARDS. Join the events throughout this week from June 6 to 9 and don't miss the fun!

Here is what we have planned:

• 500% bonus for First Win of the Day
  
• 2-for-1 offer on Nation Set (US + Britain)
  
• Battle the Devs event
  

The first win of the day will give you 500% more gold: 10 Gold instead of 2! This one-time bonus is available between Thursday and Sunday.


We offer a time-limited 2-for-1 with USA and Britain Nation sets. The set contains card backgrounds, special emotes, and battlefield decorations of both nations. A sizable discount of 50% awaits you this week only.


“Battle the Devs” and win matches against the KARDS developers! If you are available on June 6th between 1pm and 5pm GMT, sign up for a dev match.

This event is aimed for new players and veterans alike! Please check the forum thread DDay75 - Battle the Devs for more info.

See you on the battlefield!