Shardbound News

• The next Trial of Champions leaderboard event will begin soon and will run for 30 days, starting on April 16th. Climb the ranks and prove your strength: the top players will earn exclusive rewards, including the Legendary Penumbran Assassin and another chance at earning the special alternate 2D art version of the Epic Shockblade Smuggler. More details to come!
  • When the next Trial of Champions starts there will be a new gacha tab called Gravebinder Recruit. In this store offer you will be able to earn a brand new legendary card. This gacha tab has a 7.5% chance at pulling a legendary card but if you pull a legendary card there will be a 33.3% chance that it is Gravebinder. Following the end of the next Trial of Champions, the Gravebinder will soon be added to the regular loot pool.
    
  • The Veil Devourer and Combat Medic will be added to the regular loot pool later this month at the standard Legendary drop rate, making both available to all players.
• In this update we are implementing the “two of a kind” upgrade recipe change. Moving forward upgrading a card will always require one duplicate of the same card at the same level. We will monitor this change closely and will make changes based on feedback.
  
• We have removed the faction battle passes and you are now able to earn all of the different factions via the guide quest system. This change was made to make earning the different factions more engaging.
  
• The Daily Login tab has been removed
  • We have spread out the value from the total calendar into shards rewarded from the Daily Battle Pass Quests.
    
  • You should now be earning more shards from completing your daily quests.
• Victory Points will now always collect before units with Minions act
  

[h2]Card-Specific Changes[/h2]

• Buccaneer
  • Updated wording to accurately reflect the damage dealt by activating this cards ability is equal to its attack stat
    
  • Reduced attack stat from 3 to 1 and ability cost from 1 to 3
• Concord Artisan
  • Effect will no longer trigger when a Crystal is attacked
• Enfeebling Gloves
  • Now also increases damage dealt by all sources of Poison
    
  • Updated wording to now directly reference spells, abilities, and poison.
• Force Blast
  • Updated text: Deal 4 damage to a unit. If your commander is on High Ground, stun that unit until your next turn.
• Repair Nanobots
  • Updated text: When applied this unit gets uncontrollable at end of turn. At start of your turn if it is an ally, it heals +8, else it takes 6 damage
• Spark Treader
  • Attack value decreased from 8 to 5.
    
  • Now requires a spell that costs 2 or more to activate ability.
    
  • Movement reduced to 2
• Tune Up
  • Updated Text: Heal an ally +2 health and it gets +3 armor.

• Fixed several issues causing Valor updates to fail at end of match
  
• Fixed an issue causing some players to be unable to see their Leaderboard standing
  
• Fixed an issue with Enfeebling Glove increasing the damage dealt by opponent’s Bloodtoll effects
  
• Fixed an issue with Grim Blossom incorrectly stating cost as “2 or less” instead of “2 or more”
  
• Fixed an issue with Plainsguard throwing an exception
  
• Fixed an issue with Time Slip throwing an exception when used with Twin Serpents
  
• Fixed an issue with Tune Up not being able to target the Commander when there were no other units in play
  
• Fixed an issue with Valiant Class Mech dealing more damage than intended
  
• Upgraded cards’ star animations will now only play when upgrading a card, and not any time they come on screen.
  
• Added a purchase Chroma dialogue when attempting to make a purchase with insufficient funds.
  
• Improved onboarding experience: redesigned tutorial matches, early player matchmaking, and Guide Quests

• Updated Home screen and menu backgrounds
  
• All Recruit tabs in the shop now have detailed drop rate descriptions, showing the exact chance to draw each card in a given section’s deck
  
• Updated end of match screen, including which win condition was met
  
• Continued iteration on Card Collection, Deck Builder, and Card Upgrade UIs
  
• New Card Detail view

• Buccaneer's ability still highlights as usable at 1 mana but correctly cannot be cast without 3
  

• The first Trial of Champions launches and the start of Season 2
  • A new Trial of Champions leaderboard is live for 30 days starting at 3 PM PDT and ending on April 10th at 3 PM PDT. Players who rank in the top 7 will earn exclusive rewards, including the Legendary Combat Medic and an alternate 2D card art version of Epic Shockblade Smuggler.
    
  • To level the playing field, all players will be reset to 0 valor in Season 2 as the Trial of Champions will be ranked on Valor.
    
  • While we would prefer to do a partial valor reset to preserve some of your progress in previous seasons and to protect new players from veterans, a full reset was simpler and we didn’t want to delay the event any more.
    
  • Matchmaking is now done by Valor instead of by Deck power.
    
  • A new Legendary card, Veil Devourer, is available with increased drop rates for a limited time in the Veiled Recruit store tab. All pulls from this pool are Rare or better, when you pull a legendary card from this pool, you have a ~23% chance that it will be a Veil Devourer.
    
  • Loot pool changes after Trial of Champions ends:
    • April 10th: Veil Devourer joins the regular loot pool at the standard Legendary drop rate.
      
    • April 24th: Combat Medic joins the loot pool at the standard Legendary drop rate, making it available to all players.
• Many cards have had wording and functionality updated - references to Graveyard, Exile, and Territory have been removed
  • Part of a continued effort to streamline mechanics that are confusing
• Default match length reduced to 75 seconds
  
• Broad changes made to reduce lethality, especially on units that gained Brutal in the previous patch.
  
• Ranged units in general had their attack reduced because they benefit more than melee units by having Thief
  
• In-game speed increased to 1.1x.
  
• Modified VP Crystal Spawning so crystals appear on turns 4/8/12/15/18/21
  • Where player 2’s first turn is turn 2.
  • We are monitoring feedback regarding crystals and can adjust if this still feels too often.

[h2]Card-Specific Changes[/h2]

• Banner of Conquest
  • Changed effect to: When your commander is on high ground and has no enemies or allies adjacent to them, your units have +attack
    
  • We hope that this effect feels less free while playing into Orange’s theme of taking the high ground.
    
  • Renamed to Flag of Conquest to differentiate it from Inspiring Banner
• Baroness Ruby
  • Increased damage 3 to 4
• Bloodbound Pages
  • Increased HP bonus 3 to 4
• Buccaneer
  • Changed ability to deal damage equal to its attack instead of half its attack.
• Cannoneer
  • Reduced attack 10 to 9
• Cultivator
  • Increased attack bonus per spawned seedling
    
  • Updated leveling curve
• Director Petra
  • Changed to 22 hp, 1 attack, 4 movement.
    
  • Helps improve clarity on commander health since armor is not displayed on the commander health bar.
    
  • Updated leveling curve.
• Enfeebling Glove
  • Increased damage 2 to 4
• Enlistment decree
  • Increased HP bonus 1 to 3
• Exhume
  • Now returns a random ally. No longer references Graveyard or opens Graveyard.
• Field Scholar Gear
  • Changed to give Bonebreaker instead of Thief
• Force Blast
  • Updated wording
• Grave Spores
  • Stats increased to +3/+3
  • Now that Pebbleborn is not a Minion, Grave Spores needs a little help since the unit it spawns doesn’t attack immediately
• Inspiring Banner
  • Reduced attack bonus 3 to 2
• Lifespring Seedling
  • Now triggers even if no target is healed
    
  • To reduce board clutter
• Matter Transmogrifier
  • Increased bonus attack 4 to 5
• Midas Crystal
  • Increased bonus Armor on hit 4 to 5
    
  • Updated leveling curve
• Mind Melter
  • Reduced cost 6 to 5
    
  • Reduced attack 8 to 7
• Osprey Deadeye
  • Reduced HP 7 to 5
• Pack Awakener
  • Changed to draw a unit with cost 4+ on hit and reduce cost of the drawn card by 1.
    
  • Changed to give permanent Kaboom.
• Pebbleborn
  • No longer gains Minion
    
  • We heard you that Pebbleborn sometimes being a Minion and sometimes not is confusing. Minion was removed because newer players were confused when their units acted on their own and this is one of the first units they encountered.
• Plainsguard
  • Reduced cost 6 to 5
    
  • Reduced attack 5 to 3
• Professor’s Handbook
  • Increased cost threshold for spells 3 to 4
    
  • Increased HP gain 1 to 3
    
  • Shifting this away from “I cast Astral Bolt 3 times and win the game” and more into general specialty spell usage.
• Progenitor
  • Reduced HP 11 to 9
• Quantum Turnkey
  • Reduced attack 4 to 3
• Queensguard Auger
  • Changed to give Flurry on hit always instead of relying on territory position
    
  • Reduced attack 8 to 4
• Queensguard Dog
  • Reduced attack 8 to 7
• Rankbreaker
  • Gained Brutal
    
  • Bonus attack reduced from +5 to +3
    
  • After gaining Brutal, Rankbreaker really tore through everyone
• Shockblade Smuggler
  • Added +1 move to activated ability
    
  • Updated leveling curve
• Sharpshooter
  • Reduced attack 6 to 5.
    
  • Reduced bonus attack 5 to 4
• Steam Valve
  • Increased damage 1 to 3
• Stolen Strategems
  • Increased attack reduction 3 to 4
• Stormbell Adept
  • Reduced cost 8 to 6
    
  • Reduced attack from 10 to 8
    
  • Reduced health from 13 to 10
• Tome of Echoes
  • Increased stats given by +0/1 to +1/2
    
  • Updated leveling curve
• Tune Up
  • Increased armor bonus 2 to 3
    
  • Updated leveling curve
    
  • Can now target Commanders
• Tunnel Helion
  • Updated wording
• Twin Serpents
  • Increased poison damage from 2 to 3
    
  • Increased attack reduction 1 to 3
    
  • Updated leveling curve
• Zephyr Monk
  • Reduced attack 3 to 2
    
  • Reduced bonus move to allies +2 to +1
    
  • Zephyr Monk was hitting too hard after gaining brutal and enabling too many non interactive play patterns due to the massive movement it granted allies.

• Fixed an issue with Banner of Conquest throwing an exception when used with Seismic Boots
  
• Fixed an issue with Concord Artisan effect triggering off Crystals
  
• Fixed an issue with Exhume throwing an exception
  
• Fixed an issue with Pawnbroker not showing a Venomous value
  
• When Shockblade Smuggler steals equipment, the equipment will have its durability reset to its starting value

• Continued iteration on Card Collection and Deckbuilder UIs
  
• Updated Card Upgrade Screen
  
• Upgrade screen is now an overlay in your collection
  
• Added right-click to upgrade functionality
  
• Added ability to upgrade cards from your deck list

• Buccaneer tooltip still specifies ‘half my attack’
  

• Reworked how relic acquisition works
  
  • Removed the rotating relic shop
    
  • Added 80 guide quests to earn each dual faction relic
• All Units now behave as though they have the “Thief” keyword. This keyword has been removed from all cards.
  
  • To promote a more dynamic and engaging mini game around victory points.
• Removed Signature keyword from all cards.
  • This was not signalled well to players and led to confusion in deck building
• Many cards have had their leveling curves adjusted such that no cards should have spread values at max level
  
• Units standing on a spawning Victory or Mana Crystals will no longer be stunned.
  
  • An unnecessary and poorly signalled nuance that tripped players up
• Experiments to reduce average match time
  • All Commanders have had their base HP reduced by around 10%,
    
  • All Commanders have had their leveling curve adjusted to adjust for lower starting life
    
  • Players now start with 2 mana on their first turn.
    
  • Players’ Deployment Zone size increased to all Low Ground within 4 tiles of the Commander’s starting tile
    
  • No Man’s Land size decreased to include all tiles at least 1 space away from either player’s Deployment Zone
    
  • Victory Crystals spawn with 2 HP instead of 3.
    
  • Victory Crystals now spawn more frequently.
• Removed Hold to End Turn functionality
  • This will be reevaluated when a broader look at the gameplay HUD occurs.

[h2]Card-Specific Changes[/h2]

• Changes based on player feedback and internal playtesting intended to smooth to create a larger variety of viable strategies and reduce the strength of the most powerful strategies.
• Artifacts
  • Artifacts tend to clutter the board. Each artifact received a tuning pass to be higher impact and persist for less time.
  • Blightspore Seedling
    • Increase poison stacks applied from 1 to 2
      
    • Increase self damage from 2 to 3
      
    • Reduce base health to 6
      
    • Updated leveling curve
  • Lifespring Seedling
    • Increase healing from 2->3
      
    • Increase self damage from 1 to 4
      
    • Updated leveling curve
  • Inspiring Banner
    • Increase damage taken to 2. Increase buff given to adjacent melee units by 1.
    • Increase HP
  • Pile of Tomes
    • Increase damage taken from 1 to 3.
      
    • Increase HP.
• Baffling presence
  • Replaced thief with damage shield at level 7
• Devoted Curate
  • HP reduced from 8 to 6
• Distorter
  • Added Brutal
• Extinguish the Unworthy
  • Now requires line of sight
    
  • Reduce health gain from 4 to 3
    
  • Updated leveling curve
• Flux
  • Reduce cost 1 to 0
• Cannonneer
  • Cost reduced to 7
• Gravity Surge
  • Reduced cost 5 to 4
    
  • Deals 5 damage to all affected targets instead of being different between main target and adjacent targets
    
  • Updated wording
• Hollow Fae
  • Added Venomous: 3
    
  • Changed to Hit: When this attacks a poisoned enemy, this deals 2x damage
• Kindle
  • No longer gives Sluggish or requires adjacency
• Knuckleduster
  • Durability reduced to 2.
    
  • Now adds +1 Armor
    
  • Updated leveling curve
• Mind Melter
  • Added Brutal
• Nanobots
  • Increase damage dealt from 3 to 6
    
  • Increase healing done from 2 to 8
    
  • Updated leveling curve
• Pawnbroker
  • Added Venomous
• Pebbleborn
  • Removed all keywords at level 1
    
  • Updated leveling curve
    
  • Gains minion at level 3
• Phase Attuned Gauntlet
  • Now adds +2 Armor, +1 Attack.
    
  • Updated leveling curve
• Precise detonation
  • No longer targets Crystals, now only targets Boulders.
    
  • Increase damage from 7 to 9
• Queensguard Dog
  • Added Brutal
• Rankbreaker
  • Added Brutal
• Relics
  
  • Creepy blood doll
    • Increase healing to 3.
      
    • Add restriction that it only triggers when an ally kills something
  • Gravel Chitin:
    • Change to only trigger on playing a unit.
      
    • Remove references to boulders.
  • Lodestone amulet
    • Updated leveling curve
  • Portal Map
    • Increase HP gain from 1 to 3.
      
    • Updated leveling curve
• Roar: Immobilize
  • Changed to: Your commander gets +Attack this turn. Stun random adjacent enemy(s) until your next turn.
    
  • Remove the cost threshold for making it permanent, always lasts this turn.
• Rock Crusher
  • Increased movement to 3.
    
  • Increased attack, reduced hp/armor.
    
  • Changed to: This can only be deployed on boulders. Destroys the boulder
• Silverwing
  • Added Damage Shield
• Soul Shifter
  • Added Damage Shield
• Spark of genius:
  • Changed to always grant +attack.
    
  • Reduced +attack to 3.
• Spark Treader
  • Cost reduced 6 to 4
    
  • Attack reduced 9 to 8
    
  • Health reduced 12 to 10
• Starfall Templar
  • Warcry damage reduced 3 to 2
    
  • Updated leveling curve
• Stormbell Adept
  • Added Brutal
• Strip mine
  • Updated leveling curve
• Valiant Class Mech
  • Removed armor restriction for +attack
• Mobius Greaves
  • Reduced mana gain per turn by 1
• Weavebreaker
  • Added Knockback
• Zephyr Monk
  • Added Brutal

• Fixed an issue with Wind Step’s knockback effect stacking
  
• Updated many Daily/Weekly/Seasonal Quests
  
• Redesigned Card Collection and Deck Builder UI
  
• Daily quests requirements have been reduced to play 4 games for all rewards. Additionally check out the news tab for a free 5000 battle pass XP
  

• We've overhauled the quest system to streamline progression, improve reward scaling, and make objectives clearer.
  
• Key Changes
  • Fewer total quests for a more focused experience.
    
  • Rewards now scale appropriately with effort.
    
  • Clearer objectives to make earning rewards easier to understand.

[h2]Quest Updates[/h2]

• Daily Quests:
  • Encourage more gameplay, now offering significantly more card rewards.
• Weekly Quests:
  • Follow a structured format:
    • 1 upgrade quest
      
    • 1 acquire quest
      
    • 1 quest for playing with a specific faction
      
    • 1 quest for using a particular strategy
• Seasonal Quests:
  • Always provide 7 quests:
    • Win X games with each faction to earn a random Legendary card of that faction.
      
    • Acquire many cards
      
    • Upgrade cards to high rank.

• Shard Changes:
  • Elemental Shards and Radiant Shards are being retired and will no longer be active currencies. However, you can still convert them into Shards in the shop! We've replaced the Shard Exchange tab with the new Shard & Chroma Exchange tab, where you can trade in your Elemental and Radiant Shards for Shards.
    
  • You are now also able to exchange Chroma for any currency in the game, this includes Shards, Faction Tokens, Cores and Royal Marks. Just head to the shop, navigate to the tab, and start exchanging!
    
  • Removed elemental shards and radiant shards from the loot pool
• Relic Store Changes:
  • We are removing Mono Color Faction Relics from the shop's rotation and they are being added as a reward in the guide quest. This is part of an ongoing process to simplify the store, relic acquisition, and to help introduce new players into deckbuilding at a slower pace.
    
  • Removed:
    • Gravel Chitten
      
    • Professor’s Handbook
      
    • Hymn Of Rage
      
    • Baronness’s Ruby
      
    • Steam Valve

• Update wording on several relics
  
• Renamed several cards for clarity/theme.

[h2]Card-Specific Changes[/h2]

• Canal - No longer requires Line of Sight
  
• Quantum Turnkey - Updated tooltip
  
• Skyborne Crusader Level 7 - Removed Engage. Added Damage Shield.
  
• Soul Shifter Level 7- Removed Engage. Added Retaliate
  
• Trauma Guard - Now only heals on end of controlling player’s turn

• Fixed an issue with Buccaneer being able to target allied units with its ability
  
• Fixed an issue with Lodestone Amulet inconsistently applying Armorsmith
  
• Fixed an issue with Matter Transmogrifier where buff was applying to enemy units as well
  
• Fixed an issue with Matter Transmogrifier where buff was not removed when moving away from crystal
  
• Fixed an issue with Matter Transmogrifier where buff was sometimes not applying
  
• Fixed an issue with Strike Pack causing negative movement if buffed unit gained Sluggish
  
• Fixed an issue with Battle Pass XP displaying as a negative value
  
• Improved reliability when claiming Battle Pass rewards
  
• Fixed an issue with daily login rewards not working past day 24
  
• Fixed an issue with “Let’s Go” button on several Guide Quests
  
• Added additional VFX when a Commander is hit
  
• Updated VFX on Radiant Lance

• Added a new Daily Login reward screen
  
• Added new Quests/Battle Pass widget to the home screen
  

• End turn button changed to Click & Hold if you have units which can still move or attack.
  
• You can now choose whether to allow AI opponents to match you if no match is found (this has been the default behavior). This setting can be found in the Options menu, accessible from the gear icon seen in the top right corner of the main screen specifically in the gameplay tab.
  
• You may now choose to Spectate matches from the Friend’s List
  
• The number of Royal Marks awarded for playing and winning games including First Win of the Day, and weekly wins have been increased
  
• Receive 5 royal marks when you win bot game. Receive 25 royal marks when you win a ranked game.
  
• Every spell card now features brand new, unique artwork bringing more magic and style to every card.
  
• Difference in deck power allowed for matchmaking increased significantly. Expect significantly more PvP matches.
  
• Overhauled guide quest rewards and quest types. A starter deck of each color can now be earned via guide quests.
  
• Overhauled rank thresholds to make progressing through ranks more sensible.
  

[h2]Card-Specific Changes
[/h2]

• Banner of Conquest - Now increases attack for your units when your Commander is outside your territory. This change was designed to make the buff more active and less passive. Requiring players to take risks by positioning their Commander aggressively to empower their units.
  
• Ancient Power Core - Updated wording
  
• Manaweave Robe - Reduced mana cost to play this card
  
• Mobius Greaves - Reduced armor from +4 to +3 and mana gain from +5 to +4
  
• Pile of Tomes - Now, when you cast a spell and draw a card with Pile of Tomes, the drawn spell's cost is always set to 2 mana, regardless of its original cost.
  
• Requisitions Order - Reduced mana cost to play this card
  
• Spidersilk Robe - Reduced cost to use this card
  
• Starfall Templar - At 3 stars, Starfall Templar now retains Slumber but gains a Damage Shield upon deployment, to help with its survivability.
  
• Wind Step - Knockback effect no longer stacks
  

• Fixed an issue where the Escape key would become unresponsive in matches or on the main Hub screen.
  
• Fixed an issue with Blood Betrayal’s effect not being removed on Healing a unit
  
• Fixed an issue with Canal
  
• Fixed an issue with Equipment cards showing incorrect mana cost in Deck Editor
  
• Fixed an issue with Overdrive Chip triggering incorrectly when poisoned units died
  
• Fixed an issue with Scrap throwing an exception when used with Steam Valve
  
• Fixed an issue with Slow Reflexes adding attack instead of reducing it
  
• Fixed several issues with the Friends List
  
• Many spells have improved VFX
  

• Victory Points (VP) Indicator – Now flashes a bright color when the enemy team has enough VP to win, making it more noticeable. It also flashes at a lower intensity to indicate your current VP total.
  
• Added more tooltips