Hello everyone!

The meta has been evolving since the release of the last balance patch, World at War: Escalation, and World at War: Behind Enemy Lines. Overall, the diversity is increasing, which is one of our main goals for balance patches. We hope you can enjoy playing and battling against various decks.

USA Frontline midrange has dropped down a bit. Britain Air is maintaining its position firmly. Jaggro is also performing very well. Meanwhile, many control decks start to appear. Some are new, Japan/Poland deck for example; while others are simply coming back, Germany Discard for instance. The same trend was also spotted in the February OCC tournament. All the battles were recorded and can be found at our Youtube channel.

Now let’s take a look at what cards are going to be changed for March.



Old: Give a friendly unit +X+X where X is the number of British air units you control.
New: Target friendly British air unit and its adjacent units get +1+1.

The Britain Air deck has been one of the most popular decks for a very long time, which is good. We are very happy to know that our players enjoy such decks. The Air deck will be slowed down a bit with this change. However, buffing multiple units at the same time also means they will not be as vulnerable to single target cards as they are now, for example Flammpanzer and M16 HALF-TRACK. This new ability is also more thematic and might be used in other decks.





Old: Your tanks cost 1 less to deploy, to a minimum of 1.
New: Destruction: All your Soviet tanks in hand and deck cost 1 less to deploy.

The old ability is nice and could shine sometimes. However, those medium and heavy Soviet tanks are not motorized at all, as this unit is forced to exchange in most cases for the HQ to survive. We hope this new ability will help Soviet tanks perform better in the middle and late game.




Old: Until the start of your next turn, attacks cannot put your HQ defense below 1.
New: Deal 2 damage to a unit. If this destroys it, gain 1 extra kredit slot.

Standing together doesn’t always mean defending til the last breath. It could also mean fighting back and providing more resources.





Old: Deployment: Gain 1 extra kredit slot.
New: Deployment: Gain 1 extra kredit slot. Your HQ gains +2 defense.

Obviously, this regiment is not bringing enough resources to the battlefield. That is why nobody likes it. Let’s load the truck with more goods for the battle.




Old: Cost 2
New: Cost 1

This “Choose One” option seems to be too expensive. Reworking a couple of cards for sending units back to hand doesn’t mean all such cards are going to be changed. Conditional or not cost effective retreating will remain as an interesting strategy. We will keep monitoring such cards and might adjust their costs accordingly.




Old: When 10th GUARDS REGIMENT receives damage, give it +1 attack.
New: When this unit takes damage, it gets +2 attack.

“+1 attack” is ignored quite often. The threat from +2 attack could be a different story though. Soviet does have quite a few cards that can trigger this ability. This might give the counter offensive deck a small push.




Old: Attack 3. When P-47D THUNDERBOLT destroys a unit in combat, draw a card.
New: Attack 4. When this unit destroys an enemy unit, draw a card.

THUNDERBOLT isn’t really bringing any thunder. What can a 3 attack fighter do on the battlefield? The difference between 3 and 4 attack usually matters quite a lot. In addition, “in combat” is removed. Maybe some new cards that can trigger its ability besides combat?




Old: Operation Cost 2
New: Operation Cost 1

Immune is quite an attractive ability. Maybe it is just too slow to catch up on the battlefield. Let’s see if a reduced operation cost can make your HQ safer.




Old: Target friendly unit has 0 operation cost.
New: Reduce a unit’s operation cost to 0.

Freedom is always a double edged sword. Operating for free is not always beneficial either. A 1-cost DIRECT HIT could easily remove such units.




Old: Cost: 4
New: Cost: 3

The Type 96 25mm anti-aircraft gun is designed to be an efficient card against air units. With a reduced cost, it will be more handy for battling against air decks.



That is all, these changes will be live soon. We will monitor closely how the meta will change afterwards. Please continue giving us your feedback, which is very valuable to us.

Thanks and see you on the battlefield, commanders!

Thrilling intel from the KARDS battlefield: The latest update, “World at War - Behind Enemy Lines,” has arrived on February 24th. This third installment in the World at War series reinforces the battlefield with 7 unique new cards (18 in total), general improvements, and alternate art.

Additionally, a special, time-limited event with alternate game rules lets you explore all new cards, even if you don’t own them.




This World at War update focuses on the warfare behind enemy lines and is themed around special operations, spying, and partisans. Britain, France, Poland, and the Soviet Union spearhead the efforts behind enemy lines.

Highlights of this update are the Elite and two Special cards, while the standard and limited-rarity cards are valuable additions to the theme. Explore new options and strategies with the new Soviet Elite order “Monastyr,” which replaces all enemy units with cheaper versions (if possible). If you like going full commando, we have something for you as well with the new French Commandos Kieffer - or try the British Special 2nd PARA C.

All of the cards, their effects, and background are, of course, deeply rooted in WW2 history.


To celebrate the arrival of this update, we will also have a special in-game event ready. This event is open for everyone and runs from the 24th to the 28th of February.

Participation is entirely free; have some extra fun with a new format. Just hop in and enjoy!

As a highlight, we have some special rules for this event:




Included in the premium version is also highly popular alternate art, a new HQ and battlefield, gold versions of the World at War: Behind Enemy Lines card set, the interactive Molotov Cocktail board item, and a sizable number of wildcards of all rarities.



KARDS is entirely free to play and stays like this. You can obtain the new cards in many ways, for example, by using wildcards or purchasing one of the Behind Enemy Lines bundles for gold or real currency.


Highlights of this update are the Elite and two Special cards, while the standard and limited-rarity cards are valuable additions to the theme. Explore new options and strategies with the new Soviet Elite order “Monastyr,” which replaces all enemy units with cheaper versions (if possible). If you like going full commando, we have something for you as well with the new French Commandos Kieffer - or try the British Special 2nd PARA C.



Monastyr won't destroy a unit if no replacement unit can be found for it.

Operation Monastyr (e. Operation Monastery) was a Soviet intelligence operation that lasted from 1941 to 1944 and involved using a “radio game” which was standard technique in radio counterintelligence at the time. The operation was conducted by NKVD agents and the goal was to use Soviet moles to relay misinformation to the Abwehr, the German military intelligence. The operation was considered a great success, it resulted in the capture of several German agents and collaborators. However, one of its major contributions was disinformation about major Soviet offensive operations near the town of Rzhev, which the Germans took at face value. This was partly true, but this rendered the Germans blind to the much more important Operation Uranus, the major Soviet offensive at Stalingrad.



The 1er Bataillon de Fusiliers Marins Commandos was a battalion sized commando unit that was formed in 1942 by the Free French Navy. The battalion was split into three troops, designated 1,8 and 9. Members of Troop 1 took part in the Operation Jubilee, or the Dieppe Raid in 1942, and that same year they participated in a night raid on a bridge at Plouézec in France. In February 1944 they participated in the raid on the beach of Wasssenaar in the Netherlands, which was the launch site of the German V-2 rockets. On 6 June 1944, D-Day, the battalion participated in the Normandy landings and disembarked on Sword Beach, and with No.4 Commando they supported the landings of the British 3rd Infantry Division. Despite heavy losses they managed to capture a 50 mm AT gun and a fortified artillery position. That same day the 1er Marins linked up with the British 6th Airborne Division at Pegasus Bridge (aka Bénouville Bridge) where more fighting took place. By the evening of 6 June the battalion had lost 25% of its men (27 KIA and many wounded), but they managed to hold their position. For the next couple of months the 1e Marins fought in Normandy, but in November 1944 they took part in the Allied landings on the island of Walcheren in the Netherlands where the city of Flessingue was captured. After WWII the unit was returned to French control and is still serving as part of the Naval Commandos of the French Navy.



The 2nd Parachute C was a company sized unit of the 2nd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment (2 PARA) of the British Army, but would later become part of the Army Air Corps. The battalion was formed in 1941 and early 1942 it participated in its first mission which was Operation Biting, a raid on a German radar installation in Bruneval, France. After its first mission the C Company of the battalion took the nickname “C (Bruneval) Company” in honor of the operation. The battalion became part of the 1st Parachute Brigade of the 1st Airborne Division and participated in British airborne operations in North Africa, Sicily and Italy, and lastly and most famously in the Battle of Arnhem during Operation Market Garden in September 1944.



During the German occupation of France the French resistance groups developed an “underground railroad” system that was used to smuggle downed Allied airmen to the front lines or back to Britain. Later this same underground system was used to send messages between the resistance groups and Allied command. It also came to use during Operation Jedburgh in 1944 where Allied special operatives used the underground network to reach the groups and towns in France where they were to operate. The mission was to assist Allied forces in the upcoming invasion with sabotage, guerrilla warfare or by leading the resistance forces against the Germans.



This is a Polish / British exile card.

The Westland Lysander was a British made cooperation and liaison aircraft that came into service in 1938 and was used by RAF and Allied air forces during WWII. The aircraft was mainly used for artillery spotting or message and supply drops, but was withdrawn from combat duties after the Battle of France due to high losses inflicted by German fighters. For the remainder of the war the Lysander served mainly in liaison and air-sea rescue roles. The aircraft was used to maintain contact with the French Resistance, for supply drops, delivering and retrieving agents or to rescue downed pilots that were sheltered in France. Several Lysander aircraft were used by the No. 309 Polish Fighter-Reconnaissance Squadron, but from 1942 the squadron started to transition to Mustangs. A total 1,786 Westland Lysander’s were built, including a few variants.



The Surazh Gate, also known as the Vitebsk Gate, was the name given to the corridor connecting the Soviet Union and the German occupied territories of Belarus in 1942. This was an area of 40 km², between the Russian towns of Usvyaty and Velizh, which at the time was the point of contact between the German Army Group North and Army Group Center. The gate was created by the Soviet 4th Shock Army during the Toropets–Kholm Offensive in the winter of 1941-42 and it created a large gap in the German defensive lines. The Soviet units were aided by partisan groups who destroyed German garrisons and guarded the area. The Surazh Gate did not only serve as a gate into the occupied territories, but it also allowed transports out of them of both men and supplies. However, the Red Army did not launch another offensive in this area and in September 1942 the Germans launched a counteroffensive and managed to close the gate.



It is believed that there were around 60,000 Soviet partisans operating in and around Bryansk during WWII and by 1942 they effectively held an area of 14,000 km2. The partisans often fought alongside other Red Army forces in battles, but their main goal was to operate behind the enemy lines, to interrupt supply lines and communications or to gather intelligence. The Bryansk region is known for its dense woodland which formed an excellent natural defense, it gave the partisans protection during their raids as well as making it easy for them to hide their movements and their bases. The partisan units in Bryansk were mostly supplied by air and had at least three operative air strips under their control, and several partisan brigades operated their own aircraft.

We hope you enjoy this update and the new tactical options it brings. Don’t forget to join the special event for some good fun!

Welcome to the first card reveal of our upcoming update, World at War: Behind Enemy Lines.

This third World at War update is themed around special operations, spying, partisans and involves Britain, France, Poland, and the Soviet Union. World at War: Behind Enemy Lines comes with a total of 18 cards, of which 7 are entirely new. Similar to the first two World at War updates, there are several options to receive the new cards:

• Get the standard World at War bundle for in-game gold or real currency
  
• Get the premium World at War bundle for real currency
  
• Use wildcards to create some or all of the cards you want

The premium version arrives with a bunch of goodies, such as the new Soviet Headquarters "Bryansk," alternate art, a new battlefield, and the Molotov Cocktail as a new unique board item. Included is also a sizable amount of wildcards.


Every day until the release on the 24th, we will reveal new cards, their stats, and historical background info.

Subscribe to our social media channels to stay up to date and never miss any reveals:

KARDS Facebook
KARDS YouTube
KARDS Twitter

The upcoming Officer Club Championship broadcast will have some interesting info as well. Tune in on February 19th at 13:00 UTC 📺 http://Twitch.tv/kardsccg.

Especially join our 👉 KARDS Discord server! Get first-hand information, discuss the revealed cards and their potential use in existing and new decks, and speculate about unrevealed upcoming cards.

Let's have a look at the first new World at War Behind Enemy Lines card!


We kick off the spoiler season in honor of the Bryansk Irregulars, which played a significant role in the war efforts of the Soviet Union against the German troops towards their way to Moscow.



The Bryansk region is known for its dense woodland, which formed an excellent natural defense; it gave the partisans protection during their raids and made it easy for them to hide their movements and bases.

It is believed that around 60,000 Soviet partisans were operating in and around Bryansk during WWII, and by 1942 they effectively held an area of 14,000 square km.

The partisans often fought alongside other Red Army forces in battles. Still, their main goal was to operate behind the enemy lines, interrupt supply lines and communications, or gather intelligence.

Partisan units in Bryansk were supplied mainly by air and had at least three operative airstrips under their control, and several partisan brigades operated their own aircraft.

Stay tuned for more as we approach this World at War update on February 24th. There are card reveals now every day!


If you want to become a bit creative and reveal your first impression on Behind Enemy Lines, we have something experimental for you.



Simply use the following comic strip draft and fill in the blank spaces. Keep it modest, though, please :) Feedback determines if we can do more of this.



During the German occupation of France the French resistance groups developed an “underground railroad” system that was used to smuggle downed Allied airmen to the front lines or back to Britain. Later this same underground system was used to send messages between the resistance groups and Allied command.

It also came to use during Operation Jedburgh in 1944 where Allied special operatives used the underground network to reach the groups and towns in France where they were to operate. The mission was to assist Allied forces in the upcoming invasion with sabotage, guerrilla warfare or by leading the resistance forces against the Germans.


The 1er Bataillon de Fusiliers Marins Commandos, alias Commandos Kieffer, was a battalion sized commando unit that was formed in 1942 by the Free French Navy.

The battalion was split into three troops, designated 1,8 and 9. Members of Troop 1 took part in the Operation Jubilee, or the Dieppe Raid in 1942, and that same year they participated in a night raid on a bridge at Plouézec in France. In February 1944 they participated in the raid on the beach of Wasssenaar in the Netherlands, which was the launch site of the German V-2 rockets.

On 6 June 1944, D-Day, the battalion participated in the Normandy landings and disembarked on Sword Beach, and with No.4 Commando they supported the landings of the British 3rd Infantry Division. Despite heavy losses they managed to capture a 50 mm AT gun and a fortified artillery position. That same day the 1er Marins linked up with the British 6th Airborne Division at Pegasus Bridge (aka Bénouville Bridge) where more fighting took place. By the evening of 6 June the battalion had lost 25% of its men (27 KIA and many wounded), but they managed to hold their position. For the next couple of months Commandos Keiffer fought in Normandy. n November 1944 they took part in the Allied landings on the island of Walcheren in the Netherlands where the city of Flessingue was captured.

After WWII the unit was returned to French control and is still serving as part of the Naval Commandos of the French Navy.


The Westland Lysander was a British-made cooperation and liaison aircraft that came into service in 1938 and was used by RAF and Allied air forces during WWII. The aircraft was mainly used for artillery spotting or message and supply drops, but was withdrawn from combat duties after the Battle of France due to high losses inflicted by German fighters.

For the remainder of the war the Lysander served mainly in liaison and air-sea rescue roles. The aircraft was used to maintain contact with the French Resistance, for supply drops, delivering and retrieving agents or to rescue downed pilots that were sheltered in France. Several Lysander aircraft were used by the No. 309 Polish Fighter-Reconnaissance Squadron, but from 1942 the squadron started to transition to Mustangs.

A total 1,786 Westland Lysander’s were built, including a few variants.


Operation Monastyr (e. Operation Monastery) was a Soviet intelligence operation that lasted from 1941 to 1944 and involved using a “radio game” which was standard technique in radio counterintelligence at the time.

The operation was conducted by NKVD agents and the goal was to use Soviet moles to relay misinformation to the "Abwehr", the German military intelligence.

The operation was considered a great success, it resulted in the capture of several German agents and collaborators. However, one of its major contributions was disinformation about major Soviet offensive operations near the town of Rzhev, which the Germans took at face value. This was partly true, but also rendered the Germans blind to the much more important Operation Uranus, the major Soviet offensive at Stalingrad.

Good news from the KARDS team: We continue to expand our World at War cycle with its third installment on February 24th. This third World at War update is dubbed “Behind Enemy Lines” and relates to the theme of special operations, spying, and partisans.


This third World at War update focuses on the warfare behind enemy lines and is themed around special operations, spying, and partisans. Britain, France, Poland, and the Soviet Union are involved. This update delivers a combination of new and existing cards fitting this theme.

World at War: Behind Enemy Lines comes with 18 total cards, of which 7 are entirely new. Similar to the first two World at War updates, there are several options to receive the new cards:

1. Get the standard World at War bundle for in-game gold or real currency
   
2. Get the premium World at War bundle for real currency
   
3. Use wildcards to create some or all of the cards you want

The premium version arrives with a bunch of goodies, such as the new Soviet Headquarters “Bryansk,” alternate art, a new battlefield, and the Molotov Cocktail as a new unique board item. Included is also a sizable amount of wildcards.


To celebrate the arrival of this update, we will also have a special in-game event ready. This event is open for everyone and runs from the 24th to the 28th of February.

As a highlight, we have some special rules for this event:

• At the start of the battle, the complete set of all 7 new Behind Enemy Lines cards are added to both decks
  
• On each turn, players draw an extra card and gain an extra kredit slot (up to a maximum of 12)

Participation is entirely free; have some extra fun with a new format. Just hop in and enjoy!


We will reveal the new World at War cards in the coming days as we get closer to the release date.

You can find spoiler cards in various places such as our Social Media channels (follow us on Facebook & Twitter), and especially keeping an eye on our popular KARDS Discord!

Hello fellow Generals and dear KARDS enthusiasts,

We are introducing a new currency for KARDS and redesigning how you can get items for real money from the store.

In this blog, we want to

1. present what we are going to do
   
2. explain the reasoning behind this plan
   
3. illustrate the change with examples
   
4. provide an outlook on the benefits of this change
   
5. talk about the transition to the new system
   
6. invite you to collaborate and provide feedback

Since this is a significant change, we want to have enough time to collect your feedback. Our plan is to go live with the new system in March.

Please read this blog to the end, where we'll invite you to collaborate with your feedback.

Before we continue, let's be crystal clear:

This change does not impact the way you play for free. You still get gold and use that gold for packs, draft tickets, and other interesting items in the same way. This change is exclusively about real-money purchases.

• We plan to introduce a premium currency to KARDS in March
  
• The new premium currency will allow the team to avoid prohibitive administrative overhead when launching mobile and being live on new platforms
  
• Instead of purchasing an item directly from the store with cash, you will pay using this premium currency which you can buy for real money
  
• When we transition to the new system, everyone will get a free gift of the new currency

So, that being said, let's go into the details without further ado.


We will unify how you can get items from the KARDS store for real money by introducing a premium in-game currency: Diamonds.

• All offers and items in the Kards store using any real currencies will be replaced with offers using this new in-game currency.
  
• All offers and items using the current in-game gold currency will remain.
  
• This does not impact the way you play for free. This is exclusively about real-money purchases.

The only change here is on real-currency purchases. Instead of using cash directly to buy a real-money offer from the store, you will use Diamonds. If you have insufficient Diamonds, you can buy them from the store for real money in various quantities and with various discounts.

Read ahead to learn more about the reasons why we want (and need) to implement this system.

Before we go further into how exactly this is going to work, let go over the reasons why a change in the current system is becoming necessary, why we chose this system, and why we think this is good for everyone.


Right now, life is easy - at least in relative terms when it comes to creating offers, discounts, and special bundles in the Kards store for specific events and special dates.

With the advent of the mobile versions (Android + iOS) and expanding to new platforms, things will become considerably more complex.

Whenever you add a real-money offer to the mobile stores (and changing the price for a temporary discount is technically a new offer), this offer needs to be submitted, reviewed and authorized by the store owners (Google, Apple, etc.). If you have a large team with hundreds or thousands of employees, this is no big deal. For smaller studios, such as 1939 Games, this extra administrative work can become quite significant.

However, if you have a set of bundles for premium in-game currency, then everything becomes easy. You can change in-game currency prices easily and without the above mentioned review process. Adding discounts and attractive offers then becomes very easy.

This change allows us to:

1. Keep offering attractive special offers in multiple currencies and date-based discounts on all platforms without excessive administrative overhead.
   
2. Help you purchase items in KARDS for real money on any platform fairly and transparently.

We cannot emphasize enough our core philosophy that only a game with a fair and transparent purchase system has a long-lasting life in the free-to-play market. We are going into the details in the following sections.


The way you can purchase items for real money in the store is changing with this design: Instead of directly paying for a store item with real money, you’ll get it for diamonds which you get for real money. We want to keep this as transparent as possible, so as a rule of thumb, you can look at 10 Diamonds = $1 (details below).

We also move the discounts from specific items/bundles to the diamond bundles.

The overall discounts on items and bundles will stay similar. As explained above, this is not about changing the pricing but introducing a fair, transparent, and future-proof system that is easy to use across many platforms.

Let’s have a look at some of the bundles we have envisioned (we will also add a small bundle S for probably $4.99 and possibly another bundle that falls in between L and XL). All numbers are still subject to small adjustments:


Bigger bundles will give you more significant discounts. This is how it currently works as well.

Let’s see what this will get you in the store and look at some examples of popular items. The exact numbers are still subject to (minor) change:


The price ranges are the result of discounts. The price per pack depends on how many packs you buy. For example, do you buy 1 Officer Pack (more expensive per pack), or do you go for the large bundle with 20 Officer packs that comes with a discount (cheaper per pack)? Same with the Diamond price range: Did you get the Diamonds from the standard bundle or with a discount from the larger bundles?


By now, you should have a good understanding of what we are doing and why. If anything is unclear, you are most welcome to ask in the comments below.

What might be not so clear yet is the benefit you get from this and if there is a benefit at all for you. We are aware that some implementations of premium currencies carry a bad reputation.

To be completely transparent here, if KARDS stayed on just one single platform without any ambitions for many more years to come, we might not have changed anything at this time. But we already have exciting goals with the mobile versions and more platforms in the near future (and that is just this year alone).

We can see at least four major direct benefits for you:

• Increased variety: We can and will add low-cost items in the store (e.g., XP Boosters). This is something that wasn’t feasible before.
  
• Freedom of choice: The purchase discount can be used on any item(s) you want and on as many items as you wish at any time. You are no longer locked to a discount on a specific item.
  
• Fairness: You get the same value regardless of the platform. With full cross-platform play coming up, you will be able to use your purchase anywhere else (again, irrespective of the platform).
  
• Future-proof: Having premium currency in your account means that you are future-proof for any additional platform KARDS might become available on. You also don’t need to worry about missing discounts or specials in the shop across platforms.

We plan to go live with this new system in March.

As a reminder, this does not impact the way you play for free at all. You still get gold and use that gold for packs, access draft, and other interesting items in the same way as before.

When we launch the new system, we will do the following:

• Add Diamonds as new premium currency to KARDS
  
• Convert the current real-currency price tag of store items to Diamond prices
  
• Add Diamond bundles to the store as new purchasable items
  
• Give every player free Diamonds as a gift from the team

All of the above will be done automatically. You don’t need to do anything extra. Especially adding a real-currency gift is now extremely easy! All your existing items will, of course, stay unchanged.


But why Diamonds? Do they belong in a WW2 game? Absolutely! In fact, Diamonds played a major role in converting civilian industries into war machines. Only they were hard enough to stamp out the millions of precision parts necessary for mass-producing airplane engines, torpedoes, tanks, artillery, and the other weapons of war.

Diamonds were critical in drawing the fine wire needed for radar and other instruments. And only diamonds could provide the high-precision bearings for stabilizers and gyroscopes for submarines and planes. Besides that, diamonds were used in espionage and clandestine operations.


After all these explanations and with our best intentions, you still might have some burning comments and important feedback.

This is a significant change in how we sell items in KARDS; this can seriously impact financing the development of KARDS and 1939 Games. Obviously, it is critical that we get this right.

Keep in mind our core philosophy of having KARDS as a long-lasting free-to-play game. This requires, in our opinion, a fair and transparent purchase system which we hope to have presented here.

As this potentially impacts all of us, we are excited to hear your feedback and look forward to a good, constructive discussion.

Following the presentation of this month’s card balance changes a few days ago, we now have deployed these changes together with bug fixes. Today, the 10th of February, we updated KARDS with card balance changes and bug fixes.

We also thank all of our engaged players and the KARDS community in general for reporting bugs and discussing the game balance.

If you want to get involved, please join us on Discord!


A total of 10 cards have been updated, three were toned down in power, three got more powerful, and 4 cards were changed for strategy reasons. Please read the following dev blog for all the details and background info: Card Balance Update: A New Year and A New Plan

• Old: Give your HQ + X defense where X is the count of all enemy units and hand cards.
  
• New: Your HQ gains defense equal to the number of all cards on the battlefield.

• Old: Cost 3
  
• New: Cost 4

• Old: 1 Attack, 3 Defense
  
• New: 1 Attack, 2 Defense

• Old: Has +3 attack while guarded.
  
• New: Gets +1+1 when you deploy or add a Guard unit.

• Old: Give an enemy unit -3 attack and -1 defense until the start of your next turn.
  
• New: Deal 1 damage to an enemy unit. Set its attack to 0 until your next turn.

• Old: Cost 2
  
• New: Cost 1

• Old: Draw 5 cards, discard drawn cards that are not Japanese units.
  
• New: Add two 33RD RECON to your support line.

• Old: Deployment: If you control the frontline, send an enemy unit to owner's hand.
  
• New: Deployment: If you control the frontline, give a friendly unit +2+2.

• Old: Add two SWORDFISH bombers with Blitz to the support line.
  
• New: Add two SWORDFISH bombers to the support line. Give them Blitz.

• Old: [Cost 4] Add 1/1 LIGHT INFANTRY units to the support line until it is full.
  
• New: [Cost 5] Add LIGHT INFANTRY to the support line until it is full. Give them Blitz.

• The new player experience has been improved. A set of new-player campaigns is replacing the previous matches to unlock the major nations. We are testing these improvements and will gradually roll them out.

• The background color of texts on the 507th PIR card back was incorrect. Fixed.
  
• The notification messages were incorrect when PARADE or PROMOTION did not draw any unit. Fixed.
  
• Cards were sometimes rendered with an incorrect rarity icon. Fixed.
  
• In rare cases, the deck builder pages were sometimes offset so that the last page was inaccessible. Fixed.
  
• In some cases, draft rewards were displayed incorrectly. Fixed.

• ROOT OUT THE ENEMY was not working correctly when multiple units were destroyed. Fixed.
  
• SB2C HELLDIVER, 1ST TEXAS INFANTRY, 47TH INFANTRY REGIMENT, abilities did not trigger when the maximum kredit slot was reached. Fixed.
  
• Tanks drawn after being moved to deck by T-28's effect were not getting their cost lowered by 175th MOTORIZED. Fixed.
  
• SPITFIRE MK IIA could not be selected by EMERGENCY MEASURES. Fixed.
  
• NO. 1 COMMANDO was not working correctly with OVERRUN. Fixed.
  
• AoE damage will be dealt first before triggering effects of 845th RIFLES and 456th REGIMENT.
  
• French Artillery in the Campaign was not working correctly. Fixed.
  
• Panzerzug's deployment could not be canceled. Fixed.

• B-29 SUPERFORTRESS was not lowering its cost when retreated by the AI. Fixed.
  
• HOME DEFENSE's kredit changes were sometimes working incorrectly when HQs were damaged by the AI. Fixed.
  
• AI's PANTHER A was triggering when destroyed by ENVELOP or MISSING when moved to the frontline. Fixed.
  
• AI's BEFEHLSWAGEN was sometimes not being added to the frontline when it should. Fixed.
  
• Rare cases of AI caused the opponent to have more than 9 cards in hand. Fixed.
  
• AI's ZHUKOV wasn't decreasing the cost of the drawn card. Fixed.

As always, we welcome your feedback in the comments below and on KARDS Discord.

Have fun and enjoy - and keep an eye out for the next World at War update!

Hello everyone!

The battles in KARDS have escalated since the introduction of World at War - Escalation on January 20th. Now it is time to escalate the battles to the next level by some balance changes.

We have been looking at the card statistics all the time, before and after the holiday. Generally speaking, the meta looks pretty good and solid. The Britain Air deck performed extremely well right after the previous balance patch. The USA frontline aggro deck has been catching up, and it is now in line with the Britain Air deck, or even better. On the other hand, the Japan/France deck seems to be a dark horse. They all saw great performances through the holiday in the ladder and in the World Championship before the holiday and our first OCC in 2022. If you missed the battles, you can find our live recordings on our official Youtube channel.

We have been closely monitoring those new Escalation cards since they were released. Some of them are performing pretty well, while others lead to new and interesting strategies. We hope you enjoy those new cards. Now let’s jump into the new changes.





Old: Give your HQ + X defense where X is the count of all enemy units and hand cards.
New: Your HQ gains defense equal to the number of all cards on the battlefield.

This card has been very reliable for the Japan/France deck. It can help you stack up your HQ’s defense to a vast number, along with other healing cards. We want to reduce the amount of healing and increase the risk if you plan to get the maximum healing. It’s undoubtedly a nerf for this deck. However, the extra Intel ability allows this card to be potentially used in other decks.




Old: [Cost 3]
New: [Cost 4]

This storm has been very powerful and devastating since it was released. While we want to see intensified heat on the battlefield, it is probably better to let the storm come just a bit late so that we can all be ready for it.




Old: 1 Attack, 3 Defense
New: 1 Attack, 2 Defense

We are aware that the USA/Italy aggro deck (aka Pizza deck) has NOT been performing well for the past few months. This is an actually predicted nerf because of the next change (99TH INFANTRY BATTALION).





Old: Deployment: If you control the frontline, send an enemy unit to owner's hand.
New: Deployment: If you control the frontline, give a friendly unit +2+2.

While Retreat and the frontline are unique features in KARDS, setting units back to hand is seemingly getting the edge of being out of control. We would like to remove the retreat ability from this card and probably a couple of similar cards in the future, giving Guard and all other high-cost units more opportunities at the battlefield. However, we want to keep its strength in an aggro deck, thus this new powerful +2+2 ability.




Old: Add two SWORDFISH bombers with Blitz to the support line.
New: Add two SWORDFISH bombers to the support line. Give them Blitz.

The difference here is that those bombers will no longer have Blitz once they are returned back to hand. There are still other units that work a bit differently but possess the same names. We plan to either rename some units or adjust them a bit to improve the consistency.




Old: [Cost 4] Add 1/1 LIGHT INFANTRY units to the support line until it is full.
New: [Cost 5] Add LIGHT INFANTRY to the support line until it is full. Give them Blitz.

The Token deck seems to be stuck in a dilemma, neither fast enough against aggro decks, nor powerful enough against control decks. With this change, we hope taking and holding the frontline will be easier for this deck in the middle game stage. Once those tokens are holding the frontline, we all know what will happen.





Old: Has +3 attack while guarded.
New: Gets +1+1 when you deploy or add a Guard unit.

Those highlanders are expected to be powerful along with Guard units - yet they are not. Hopefully this new ability can cooperate with Guard units much better. So watch out for the Naval Support deck.




Old: Give an enemy unit -3 attack and -1 defense until the start of your next turn.
New: Deal 1 damage to an enemy unit. Set its attack to 0 until your next turn.

It looks like this bomb never hits the target and thus is not so dangerous at all. Let’s have a bigger bomb by making the damage permanent and reducing the attack even more.




Old: [Cost 2]
New: [Cost 1]

The Japan Air deck is still nowhere to be found after the buff of RULE THE SKIES. We would to like to have this first 1 cost Japan bomber and see how it goes. This special bomber’s ability is also very unique in the game. Maybe a PIN deck is finally on the way.




Old: Draw 5 cards, discard drawn cards that are not Japanese units.
New: Add two 33RD RECON to your support line.

Even though this card has a very good potential value, it doesn’t fit quite well into any meta deck. This new version is very thematic and provides more drawing abilities for Japan with a low cost.

That is all, these changes will be on the live server soon. We will monitor closely how the meta will change after those changes. Keep an eye on the spoiler season for the next World at War update. Please continue giving us your feedback, it is very valuable to us. Thanks and see you on the battlefield, commander!

It is with great excitement that we announce the first KARDS Open of 2022!

SIGN UP NOW

1939 Games presents the KARDS Open X, powered by 983 Media. In this Open tournament, players will have two chances to make it into the top 16 through one of the two Swiss Qualifiers held on January 29th and February 5th.

The KARDS Open is all about gathering together, meeting new people, having fun, and playing KARSD. To that end, we will be doing a random giveaway between all those that sign up and play in the KARDS Open X qualifiers, where three lucky players will receive 4 officer packs once the qualifiers are complete.

Read on for a detailed breakdown of the different tournament stages.


Starting Saturday, January 29th, with the swiss qualifiers, you will compete in a best of 3 free-for-all deck format. This means you can bring any deck you want and play it as many times as you'd like. No deck submissions and no deck restrictions! If you make the top 8 in this stage, you will advance to stage two.

The second chance qualifier will be Saturday, February 5th. This swiss bracket is open to any player who has not already made the top 8 cuts, so make sure to maximize your chances of making the top 16 by playing in both qualifiers.


If you finish in the Top 8 from either of the stage one weekends, you will be qualified for the next stage - Saturday, February 26th to compete in the single-elimination best of 3 conquest. You will submit four of your best decks from four different main nations in this stage. (you will only use three of these decks for the first half of this bracket) You will ban one deck from your opponent and play a best of 3.


If you've made it to the Top 4 on February 26th, you've made it to stage 3! In this stage, you will break out your 4th submitted deck and play in a best of 5 single elimination with one ban. These games will be broadcast live on Sunday, February 27th.

For all questions about participating in the Open and all things related to KARDS Tournaments, please join our KARDS competitive Discord: https://discord.gg/288DQexmng



Compete in one or both qualifier swiss bracket weekends.
Top 8 from each weekend bracket moves on to Top - Cuts weekend
Closed deck lists with no deck restrictions! Play whatever you want, whenever you want!


Swiss Bracket with 128 player maximum (7 swiss rounds)
Swiss Qualifier Bracket A January 29th @ 1300 GMT
Swiss Qualifier Bracket B February 5th @ 1300 GMT


Bring three decks from three different main nations
A fourth deck must be submitted, which will only be used if you make it to top 4
Top 16 Conquest format best of 3 with open deck lists and one ban
Top 4 conquest format best of 5 with open deck lists and one ban
Top 16 Bracket February 26th @ 1300 GMT

⏰ DECK LIST SUBMISSION DEADLINE: February 26th @ 1200 GMT

Top 4 Bracket & Live Stream February 27th @ 1400 GMT


The KARDS Open has a prize pool of $1500 that is split the following way:

• 1st: $600 USD
  
• 2nd: $450 USD
  
• 3rd: $250 USD
  
• 4th: $200 USD
  
• 5th-16th - 100 Gold

Sign ups are open now!
https://smash.gg/tournament/kards-open-x/details

Thrilling news from KARDS: New cards, general improvements, and alternative art have arrived on the battlefield in KARDS with the latest World at War - Escalation update on January 20th!


This second World at War update is themed around the build-up into the war and focuses on the USA, Japan, and the Soviet Union. This update delivers a combination of new and existing cards fitting the theme.



Explore new options and strategies with Escalation, such as the iconic US 5th Medical Battalion, which repairs your units and gives them extra attack, or the Soviet 60th Cavalry Regiment that restricts players to play a maximum of one order per round.

This World at War update comes with 7 unique new cards (18 in total). Included in the premium version is also highly popular alternate art, a new Battlefield, gold versions of the World at War: Escalation card set, the interactive Silver Dollar Lighter board item, and a sizable number of wildcards of all rarities.



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

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

The premium version of the Escalation also contains popular alternate art for some of our most iconic cards.


This World at War - Escalation update is the second in our series of updates stretching over the next half year. 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.

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

Welcome to the first card reveal of our upcoming update, World at War: Escalation.


This second World at War update is themed around the build-up to the war and focuses on the three nations USA, Japan, and the Soviet Union. World at War: Escalation comes with 18 total cards, of which 7 are entirely new. Similar to the first World at War update, there are several options to receive the new cards:

1. Get the standard World at War bundle for in-game gold or real currency
   
2. Get the premium World at War bundle for real currency
   
3. Use wildcards to create some or all of the cards you want

Every day until the release on the 20th, we will reveal new cards, their stats, and interesting background info.

Subscribe to our social media channels to stay up to date and never miss any reveals:

KARDS Facebook
KARDS YouTube
KARDS Twitter

Especially join our 👉 KARDS Discord server! Get first-hand information, discuss the revealed cards and their potential use in existing and new decks, and speculate about unrevealed upcoming cards.

Let's have a look at the first new World at War Escalation card!


We kick off the spoiler season with the legendary 60th Cavalry Regiment.



The 60th Cavalry Regiment was a military unit of the 3rd Cavalry Division of the Red Army of the Soviet Union. The division was first formed in 1923 and participated in the invasion of Poland in 1939, but at the start of Operation Barbarossa in 1941 it defended against the Axis invaders as part of the 5th Cavalry Corps of the 6th Army of the Southwestern Front. That same year the division was redesignated to 5th Guards Cavalry Division for its skillful combat performance against the Axis forces. From 1944 to 1945 the division served under the 1st and 2nd Baltic Front, but was moved to 3rd Belorussian Front where it served until the end of the war.

Stay tuned for more as we approach the World at War II release on January 20th. There are card reveals now every day!

Since the initial announcement, more cards have been revealed.



Imperial Japan’s ultimate goal was to conquer China, but they knew they couldn’t subdue this large country without clashing with other great powers, the Soviet Union in the north or the United States in the south. Several reasons led to the choice of the southern plan, that was led by the navy, over the northern plan that would rely on the army.

One was the raw materials such as oil and rubber in the American, British and Dutch possessions in the Pacific and Southeast Asia. Another reason was the defeat of the Japanese Army in the Soviet–Japanese border conflicts in the 1930’s and the Japanese believed that the Soviet Union was too powerful to conquer. Last but not least was the trade embargo imposed by the Americans and the British that was intended to pressure Japan to withdraw from China.

The Japanese southern plan worked great for the first 6 months, but once American industrial and military capabilities reached their full potential, and after the devastating defeats in the Battle of Midway and the Battle of Guadalcanal, the Japanese war machine was fated to fail in its efforts.



A medical battalion was a divisional unit that offered medical support to the division in the field. Its main role was to conduct necessary evacuation and to administer medical care for the casualties of the division.

The 5th Medical Battalion was attached to the 5th Infantry Division, aka “Red Devils”, of the US Army during WWII. In 1942 the division was shipped to Iceland, where the British occupation force was replaced by the US forces, but from there it was sent to England in 1943 to prepare for the Allied invasion of Europe.

After two years of training the 5th Division landed in Normandy in 1944, over a month after the D-Day landings, and in the following months it participated in heavy combat during the Battle of France. In December 1944 the division was sent to reinforce the Allied southern flank in Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge. Later, that the division fought its way towards Germany along with the Allied forces and ended the war in Czechoslovakia in 1945.



The Sherman M4A2 medium tank variant was nearly identical to the Sherman M4, but it had a diesel engine and came with a pair of vented armored grates on the rear hull deck.

This variant saw limited combat with the US forces, some were in service of the US Marine Corps, but mostly it was used by the British forces. Some M4A2’s were shipped to the Soviet Union through the Lend-Lease program. The tank fitted the needs of the Red Army perfectly as they were using diesel tanks only.

A total of 10,968 M4A2 tanks were produced from 1942 to 1945.




During the opening stages of the German invasion of the Soviet Union the Red Army faced a serious shortage of weapons. The course of the war went on in such a way that most of the available munitions were lost, along with its troops who were either killed or captured, destroyed during a retreat or captured by the enemy in warehouses.

The development and manufacturing of munitions in the Soviet Union had begun before the invasion, but in 1941 they stepped up their game and most of their weapon production was done during the invasion, in some cases under siege and isolation.

From 1941 to 1945, the Soviet Union managed to produce over 30 million rifles and submachine guns, 1,476 million machine guns, 516,648 artillery guns, 347,900 mortars, 119,769 tanks and self-propelled guns, 265,600 army trucks, 213,742 military aircraft, 2 cruisers, 25 destroyers and 52 submarines.





The Soviet 85 mm M1939, aka 52-K, anti aircraft gun was used by the Red Army during WWII.

The gun entered service in 1939 in regiments of 16 guns each and was used effectively against German aircraft between 1941 and 1945. In its secondary role the 52-K was used as an anti tank weapon and some gun barrels were mounted on vehicles such as the SU-85 tank destroyer.

After the war most Soviet nations had the 52-K in its arsenal and in some cases they were refitted for peaceful purposes as anti-avalanche guns.





The 57th Regiment Sakura was a regiment of the 1st Division of the Imperial Japanese Army during WWII.

The division was sent to the Philippines to participate in the Pacific War in 1944 and was initially based in Manilla before being shipped to Leyte to defend against the Filipino and US forces which had reoccupied the island.

The 1st Division participated in fierce combat during the Battle of Leyte where it was nearly annihilated. Of the 11,000 soldiers only 800 managed to evacuate to Cebu island where they would participate in the Battle for Cebu City.



The premium bundle also contains the new alternate artwork for three popular cards: The War Machine, Ural Factories, and Last Rites.

Once you have received the premium bundle, this alternate art will get automatically activated.