KARDS - The WWII Card Game News

Hello KARDS Community!

Welcome to the first edition of the Deck of the Week, a weekly article where we look at a player submitted deck and break it down into details. The point of the series is to bring to the surface all kinds of fun, effective and in-meta decks so players looking for direction can know what to strive for.



As always, this wouldn’t be possible without the amazing support and passion from you guys in the community, and if you want to submit your own deck for the chance to be featured in the coming weeks, please fill out the following Deck of the Week suggestion form.

Now, without further ado, let’s check out the Deck of the Week, this time submitted by Opiate_Dream_Tyrant we have a Japanese and German burn deck, one of the all-time Kards classics that is fairly cheap to build but extremely fun and effective!

Originally posted by Opiate_Dream_Tyrant

Deck of the Week
Major power: Japan
Ally: Germany
HQ: HSINKING

Japan:
4x (1K) 34th INFANTRY REGIMENT
3x (1K) 15th CAVALRY REGIMENT
3x (1K) TYPE 93
4x (1K) RISING SUN
4x (2K) AKITA REGIMENT
1x (3K) 2nd RAIDING BRIGADE
2x (3K) AMPHIBIOUS ASSAULT
4x (3K) MITO REGIMENT
2x (4K) Ki-43 HAYABUSA

Germany:
3x (2K) PANZER 35(t)
2x (2K) ENCIRCLEMENT
2x (2K) 22. INFANTRY REGIMENT
2x (3K) BLITZKRIEG
3x (4K) AIR BLITZ

IMPORT CODE:
%%31|6B;2Y3Q5u2S6Q;6x7l4p2O;6D5Z6L72

According to Opiate_Dream_Tyrant, here are the most important things to know about the deck.

[h3]How would you classify this deck?[/h3]
Full on aggressive - It takes the frontline and hits face and then finishes with direct damage.


[h3]What are the key strengths of this deck?[/h3]
It brings a fast start to the game and then has direct damage that allows it to ignore the enemy board after the initial rush if you end up losing board control.


[h3]What are the main weaknesses of this deck?[/h3]
It is really dependent on getting the frontline early. If you don’t, you are in big trouble. It can also run into problems against decks with a lot of heal that can outheal the burn.


[h3]What are the key points to playing this deck?[/h3]
The best part about playing this deck is that it is fairly cheap, so anyone should be able to build it and play it within a few days of getting the game! To lower the cost even further, you can substitute Encirclement (a special order) with smaller units with blitz to help you maintain control of the frontline and put on the pressure, and you can replace the 2nd Raiding Brigade with another infantry unit or a third Amphibious Assault for the additional removal.

Additionally, since your games are generally over pretty fast so you can get a lot of games in a short amount of time. When playing, you always want to think about how you can secure the frontline and deal damage to the enemy HQ at the start of the game and then look for your direct damage cards to finish the enemy off.


[h3]How and when do you utilize the key kards?[/h3]
The key cards are 34th Infantry Regiment, Mito Regiment, Panzer 35(t), and Air Blitz.

You’ll want to utilize your 34th Infantry Regiment right at the first turn, so look for it in the mulligan. And then the Mito Regmient and Panzer 35(t) should be played as soon as possible and in a way they deal the maximum amount of damage to the enemy HQ.


[h3]How do you mulligan? [/h3]
Again, this deck is all about that 34th Infantry Regiment. With the 1 kredit cost to deploy and 0 operating cost, this is the card that will get you control over the frontline early and ultimately make it possible for you to win the game!

So when you mulligan, get rid of anything that isn’t the 34th Infantry Regiment or the 15th Cavalry Regiment. If you have either or both of these cards, let everything else go and look for Panzer 35(t), Rising Sun, and Encirclement as complimentary starting cards with the 34th or 15th Regiments.


[h3]Additional comments[/h3]
Overall this is a fairly strong deck that doesn’t cost a lot. There are obvious opportunities to improve on the deck with Special and Elite cards as your collection, grows but this should be a good target deck for players wanting to get a flying start.

The deck does sacrifice a little early speed for late-game reach only including the 34th Infantry Regiment and the 15th Cavalry Regiment infantry units that can trigger a 0 operating cost Panzer 35(t) on the second turn, something that can really snowball a game. Instead it relies on orders and units like Air Blitz, Mito Regiment, and Hayabusa to deal the final HQ damage without having to reach the HQ directly with your units.

Alternatively, you can play units like 33rd Recon and 41st Bicycle Regiment for a deck that plays faster early but doesn’t have as good a backup plan if the initial burn doesn’t work out.

And there we have it, a super effective, cheap, and fast deck directly from Opiate_Dream_Tyrant.


What do you think about this deck? Let us know in the comments along with what you would change or what deck you are currently running! You can also take part in conversations around deck building and ask for assistance in our Community Discord.

D-Day was the largest seaborne invasion in history and started with the Normandy landings on Tuesday, June 6th, 1944. D-Day began the liberation of France (and later western Europe) and laid the foundation for the Allied victory on the Western Front.



Commemorate this historic event with the first series of community challenges in KARDS.

[h2]Community wide challenges[/h2]
Participate in daily community wide challenges between June 5th and June 14th and work together with the whole KARDS community to achieve the daily goal!

During this period, you will receive a new objective every day at your first login. The daily goal is the same for everyone, this is a community event after all, and ties into the actual events of D-Day.

To spice things up, we also have a stretch goal that allows for increased rewards on the last day of the event. For each wave the community completes, all players that have logged in during that wave will receive prizes, so make sure to log in and get in that daily game to stay eligible for the prizes!. Some objectives will be easier to achieve than others. To reach some of the daily goals, you need to stretch yourself. Bring some friends to help you!

Playing any type of game will work towards the objective, including friend challenges or AI matches.


[h2]How to participate[/h2]
You participate in the event by doing what the objective states each day. Just play KARDS and keep the daily objective in mind.

[h3]Let's look at an example[/h3]
Assume that your daily goal is to deploy US bombers. Deploying US bombers in any type of game (PVP, challenges, Draft, AI matches) will count towards reaching the global goal then. The more bombers you deploy, the more you contribute. If you want to be serious about the daily challenges, you should adapt and specifically play with US bomber decks.

You can check the community progress towards the daily goal in the game client during the D-Day challenge period.

The D-Day challenges go over ten days which are grouped into three waves and a final day:

• First wave: Friday - Sunday (June 5th - 7th)
  
• Second wave: Monday - Wednesday (June 8th - 10th)
  
• Third wave: Thursday - Saturday (June 11th - June 13th)
  
• Final day: Sunday (June 14th)
  

Important! 👉 Each day starts at 00:01 UTC and ends at 23:59 UTC.
Important! 👉 To get the rewards from a wave, you have to be logged in at least once during that wave.

Each of the waves has its daily objectives and rewards.

[h2]Reward payouts[/h2]
These community challenges span ten days and introduce exciting fun while connecting you to the historical events of D-Day.

Rewards for the challenges are, of course, important. As mentioned above, the challenges are grouped into three waves; each of them covers 3 days.

The community will receive rewards for completing the objectives of each wave. Since each wave lasts for three days, the community can complete up to three daily goals per wave. The rewards will be paid out only if all three challenges per wave have been completed.

Rewards will be automatically delivered to your account for the next (work) day.

• Reward payouts for the first wave: Monday, June 8th
  
• Reward payouts for the second wave: Thursday, June 11th
  
• Reward payouts for the third way and the final day: Monday, June 15th
  

Important! 👉 Only if you have been logged in to play KARDS during a wave will you receive the rewards from this wave.



[h2]Feedback is welcome[/h2]
The D-Day Challenge is our first community event. We want to provide a fun event and also look forward to your feedback, comments, and improvement ideas.

Please help us and participate in this quick D-Day event survey.

You are also welcome to use the comments below for feedback or if you have questions.


Have fun with this event, and good luck with the D-Day challenges!

This release delivers several valuable quality-of-life improvements to KARDS and especially the new deck-import feature, as well as, balance changes, bug fixes and localization improvements. The release was published on June 3rd.



[h3]Improvements [/h3]

• The long-awaited Deck import is available now! You can import decks with just one click. Read more about this exciting addition in the blog New feature ahead - Import all the decks.
  
• Improved collection view. You now have some statistics about how much of the total cards you own.
  
• Players that are already qualified for the next stage of the KARDS World Championship are marked with a cup on the officer club leaderboard. The top ten players that are not already qualified will be marked with a yellow text.
  
• It is now possible to hide the “choose one”-cards from SPOILS OF WAR and PANZER III-H to see the board so that you can make the right choice.
  
• When targeting units with orders that deal damage, the damage incoming will show similarly to when targeting units before attacking them.
  
• SENDAI will now show which card it has removed when hovered over it.
  

[h3]Card balance changes[/h3]
This release contains a sizable amount of balance changes based on our statistics and player feedback. The full details are in the blog In the line of fire.

• BLOCKADE: All cards in the enemy’s hand cost one more now instead of only one random hand card being twice as expensive.
  
• 141. GEBIRGSJÄGER: Defense changed from 3 to 2.
  
• KATYUSHA: Defense changed from 1 to 2. Operation cost changed from 0 to 1.
  
• MEN OF STEEL: The effect that adds +1 Heavy Armor to your units will now persist, previously it lasted only one turn.
  
• ZHUKOV: The cost reduction of the random Soviet Infantry you draw lasts only one turn and is no longer permanent.
  
• OVERWHELMING FORCE: This order now also removes the destruction effect from the selected unit.
  
• B-25 MITCHELL: The random damage will go only to an enemy unit and no longer includes the enemy HQ.
  
• 34th INFANTRY REGIMENT: Reduced defense from 3 to 2.
  
• EMPIRE OF THE SUN: Increased cost from 9 to 10.
  
• KAMIKAZE: Increased cost from 0 to 1.
  
• CHAR B1 bis: Reduced deployment cost from 7 to 6.
  
• EASTERN FRONT BOUND: Reduced deployment cost from 4 to 3. Also changed: You will draw a unit with Alpine from your deck instead of adding a copy of a targeted friendly Alpine unit to your hand. The +1+1 bonus applies to all friendly Alpine units now, not only to a selected one.
  
• KAGOSHIMA REGIMENT: Increased defense from 2 to 3.
  

[h3]Bug fixes[/h3]

• The historical picture for the 13th RIFLE REGIMENT is missing. Fixed.
  
• Sometimes ARMORED TRAIN spawns a LIGHT INFANTRY on its left side instead of the right, causing the guarded effect to be visually incorrect. Fixed.
  
• When the RAAF LIGHTNING deployment effect is used on 37mm ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUN, the operation cost of the RAAF is permanently increased by 2. Fixed.
  
• The GREYHOUND is not buffing units spawning in its support line if spawned on enemies turn. Fixed.
  
• The passive icon on the FRENCH 75 is missing. Fixed.
  
• When a guarded unit gained guard, the guarded icon wasn’t removed. Fixed.
  
• The translation of various cards are either incorrect or not precise enough. Fixed. If you notice further incorrect translation, please let us know!
  
• Scrolling in the library sometimes got blocked after opening the settings window. Fixed.
  
• When attacking with tanks and artillery sometimes distorted smoke from the attack visuals occurred. Fixed.
  
• There is visual stuttering in movements of attacking units when its front was changed at the same time it was attacking. Fixed.
  

As always, your feedback is most welcome! Please use our KARDS Discord or the comments below.

Hello Kards community!

We are super excited to announce our first collaboration on content with one of our awesome community streamers. The “Coach a Dev” stream will premiere on Wednesday the 3rd of June where our new Director of Esports, Ólafur “Olikrummi” Steinarsson, will play while being coached by Kards megastreamer Spooz!

If you don’t know who Spooz is you can find him and his content on the following channels:

Twitter: @Spoozgaming

Twitch: www.twitch.tv/spooz_twitch

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn54WxsJZZ36dZ2fvVRF0zw


Our coachee Olikrummi had this to say about the upcoming stream:

Originally posted by Olikrummi

I have been a lifelong gamer and a competitive one since I was 7. I have never really enjoyed a game unless I could compete in it and do well. I have however never gone deep in any CCG before so I am beyond excited to get to learn from some of the best minds in KARDS and really take my game to the next level

During the stream, Olikrummi will start with a brand new account and the welcome offer. Then, together with Spooz, they will build a deck from scratch and try and get as high up on the ladder in a single nation as possible.

This stream should be full of information for new players wanting to get a running start, so if you are fresh into KARDS, you really shouldn’t miss this one.

Tune in to the live broadcast on Wednesday the 3rd of June from 16:00-18:00 UTC on the official KARDS Twitch channel www.twitch.tv/kardsccg, www.facebook.com/kardsccg and on our Steam store page. You can also check out Spooz’s POV on his stream at www.twitch.tv/spooz_twitch.

Hello friends!

Welcome to the latest installment of the Kards balance blog, known to cause PMS (Premature Metashift Shakes) in even the most disciplined souls. This time around we have a number of subtle changes that we foresee will cause drastic changes in the near future, as we are taking aim at many of the most cherished cards and decks out there.



Some of the changes also have the upcoming Campaign mode in mind, as the new cards found there are bound to have a significant impact on many decks. But more on that later, right now we’re going to take a look at how all your decks are about to be ruined. Enjoy!

We’re going to look at cards in the usual order of suspects - Britain, Germany, Soviet, USA, Japan, France and Italy.

[h3]Intercept Air Blitz, Bismarck, and The Commonwealth[/h3]
But first, a few cards are seeing slight template change - Air Blitz, Bismarck and The Commonwealth now are phrased so that they require you to target an HQ. Apart from the extremely rare case of you wanting to target your own HQ, this results in the cards being played the same almost always.

So why the change? Because it makes Interception more relevant, as it can now stop these three cards from resolving when targeting your HQ. It will be interesting to see if Interception will be run more frequently now.

[h3]Blockade[/h3]


The current version of Blockade is powerful, but frustrating to play because you don’t know which card was affected. The new version avoids that, and will generally result in a stronger, more powerful effect. Coupled with other resource affecting cards the Brits have, like Black Watch and Shelling, Blockade might find a nice home in a British control deck aiming to stifle the enemy’s development.

[h3]141. Gebirgsjäger[/h3]


The Mountain Boys have it all - good stats, low cost, solid abilities, making them the go-to guys for aggressive and slow decks alike. We are bringing them down from their mountain lair, thus reducing their defensive cover (read: 1 less defense), pushing them closer to the realm of mere mortals.

[h3]Katyusha[/h3]


Well, it was fun while it lasted, but Stalin’s Organ has played its last note in its current incarnation. The popularity of Katyusha has reached the point that you are more surprised when it’s NOT on one or both sides in any given battle, which is a clear sign that things need to change. We still want to keep Katyusha a strong unit due to its iconic status, just tone it down a notch into similar territory as, for instance, the Nebelwerfer.

[h3]Men of Steel[/h3]


The Heavy Armor shenanigans of the current Men of Steel are too soft, so we want to toughen it up a bit. It will be interesting to see what brews we will see with this new version - will people go wide, such as in tokens? Or a more novel approach like US Bombers, as bumping a unit from Heavy Armor 1 to Heavy Armor 2 is usually more powerful than getting Heavy Armor 1. Note that the max Heavy Armor a unit can have is 3, so take that into account.

[h3]Zhukov[/h3]


Zhukov is going back to its original version, as now that we have more options for Soviet infantry (and more coming soon), the current version is simply a little too powerful. While turn 1 4th Kuban Cossacks is still possible, there is always the chance of getting something like 6th Airborne and losing out on the cost reduction. Zhukov is still a powerful card, but at least playing it early is a bit more risky now.

[h3]Overwhelming Force[/h3]


In the long run, our goal is to make sure there are answers for anything the opponent might be up to. We are not quite there yet, but adding the ability to deny a Destruction effect is a powerful addition to the tool box of answers. And adding this ability to a card that is overwhelming in name only is a win-win for all involved.

[h3]B-25 Mitchell[/h3]


Random damage is a tricky subject and something we want to keep under strict control. The problem with the B-25 Mitchell, and the main reason for keeping it out of the big leagues, is the unpredictability of its effect, seemingly taunting you again and again with its lousy targeting. Restricting the effect to units only may seem like a nerf, but actually focuses the ability more, thus giving players a bit more control over when and what to hit.

[h3]34th Infantry Regiment[/h3]


The 34th Infantry Regiment has been the premium milkshake bringing the boys to the yard since the Allegiance expansion. Recently we have seen the milkshake starting to wander outside the yard, popping up in all kinds of decks as an ally. And you know when the milkshake has left the yard that things are getting serious. I have no idea where this metaphor is going, but the 34th now has a defense of 2, so there’s that.

[h3]Empire of the Sun[/h3]


Empire of the Sun is the removal order for when you need that little bit extra, for when you need to take things to 11 and really blast it. But we’re only amping it to 10. Should be loud enough.

[h3]Kamikaze[/h3]


Sacrifices shouldn’t come cheap. At 0 kredits, it is a little bit too easy to string together a kill in a single all out turn after having stalled the game for a long time. At 1 kredit, it now requires a bit more setup to get maximum value out of Last Rites.

[h3]Char B1 bis[/h3]


The Char B1 bis has been the saddest of Pandas sitting at 7 kredits, sad because no one wants to play with it. Let’s see if more playmates are found at 6 kredits.

[h3]Eastern Bound Front[/h3]


Being sent to the Eastern Front has been all doom and gloom so far, so we’re changing the card up a bit to see if heading east becomes a more jolly experience this time around. Note that the Alpine unit draw is random.



That’s it for now, these changes are set to hit tomorrow, June 3rd, along with a whole host of other fixes and improvements. Look out for the full patch notes for all the juicy details. Many more things are also in the pipeline, stay tuned for more info on the Campaign mode soon for instance.

See you on the battlefield!