Kingdoms CCG: The Road Forward

It's finally time to reveal what we've been working on since the start of the year. We have taken a hard look at Kingdoms CCG to see what's working and what's not. What will improve the experience? What will improve competitive play? What will make the game more inviting to new players? Like with the release of 2K sometimes you need to think outside the box to find success.

What is in store for Kingdoms CCG? Read on.

A New Beginning

What is wrong with this Core Booster?

Answer: None of the cards are competitively playable. Okay, maybe Siphon in Limited, but that's it.

This isn't a "bad" core booster. It's a pretty regular one. Of the 164 cards in Core, less than 20 cards have seen play in either Limited or Standard in years.

This is a huge problem for new players. As Core packs are the cheapest to buy, new players are going to get a ton of these sub-standard cards, and will still have a difficult time building a good deck.

Some players have suggested lowering the cost of expansions like Eve and Rise to Core levels to help get new players the better cards they need. There are a number of problems with this idea:

1. New players would still have three sets to choose from, and it wouldn't be clear at all which pack to get first.
2. It doesn't make getting the "good" cards any easier. Cheaper, yes, but the "good" to "unplayable" ratio remains very high.
3. It doesn't help the game overall. There are still a ton of packs to choose from, too many sealed deck options, it doesn't make crafting easier and affords no opportunity to deal with problem cards.

This last point is important. Any change needs to make the game better from as many angles as possible.

There is also game balance to think about. We currently have over 1000 cards to choose from when building a deck. These cards were created and released over a four year period. Over that time we've learned a lot about what makes a card constructed playable, and now strive to make playable cards across all rarities, not just Rare and Epic. As a simple example, Clay Golem just wouldn't be a card any more. A three mana 2/2 would need a pretty significant upside - look at Frost Wielder or Ruthless Bloodsucker - or it would just be 2 mana, like Dunestorm Raider. A good Core Set should reflect this new reality. It should be a clear starting point for new players and should have a high percentage of cards that you wouldn't be embarrassed playing against a random opponent.

So without further ado, introducing...

Yes. We are redoing our Core set. The new Core set will include 229 cards from the original Core set, EVE, Rise and Tribes. Every card in Core has been hand picked to be a relevant, playable card. Kingdom synergies and abilities have been brought into focus, their play styles made clear.

When the new Core is released the older sets will be removed from the pack shop forever. The full set of cards will remain in the singles market for purchase, but will no longer be available through packs.

Well Formatted

The question will be, of course, what happens to the cards from the old sets that aren't in the new Core?

As happens in the life of most CCGs, we have decided that it is time to reduce the number of cards in our Standard format. 

With the release of new Core set, all cards from the original Core, EVE, Rise and Tribes that are NOT included in the new Core will be removed from Standard and Limited play. All Arsenal/Guild Wars cards and Promos will remain in the environment. Tribes Two is currently slated to stay in the environment, but this may change.

The benefit of this will be to reduce the number of cards from over 1000 to under 600.

Not only will this create an environment without Garden Gnomes, but also give our player base a break from cards like this:

Players can debate whether or not a card like this is "broken" forever, but regardless of that discussion, Duplicate is a card that has allowed players to play 8 of a specific gear since the launch of the game. It has always been a concern when creating new Gear and has allowed numerous abusive situations. It's time to make powerful Gear to exist on their own accord (Dravkas not withstanding).

One of our goals for the environment is to encourage a more interactive game with more creature vs. creature tactics, where tribal and Kingdom synergies can truly shine. To do this, a few of the game's most omnipresent and/or degenerate cards will need to leave, but by doing so, they will open up space for new strategies to emerge.

A Lasting Legacy

Of course if you like making your 5th copy of Inverted Hourglass, all of the cards ever to have been made will continue to be playable in our Legacy format. We created Legacy last year with the release of the Two Kingdoms (2K) rule, but beyond allowing Guild Wars to remain in this format, we haven't really used it.

With the upcoming Rotation, Legacy will be truly supported Kingdoms CCG format.

1. Legacy will be added to the Arena. This will be discussed below.
2. Constructed Tournaments will be streamlined to our three key formats. While our more "out there" formats can be fun to play, they have not been popular enough to support.

To make room for Legacy in the Arena, and to clarify the differences between the formats, Limited will be officially renamed "Apprentice" and will replace the current, AI-only Beginner's arena. "Limited" is a term long used in CCGs to denote Sealed Deck/Draft play, so it has been confusing to new players.

Prizing will be available for all three arenas, but we will keep the best prizing for the Standard arena. It is "Standard" for a reason, and play there will be encouraged.

Getting a Grip on Gear

Finally, it is time to deal with one of the key issues with Kingdoms CCG once and for all. We are currently working on putting a hard cap on the number of gear that a player can have in play at one time.

It has never made sense that gear have no limit - not even when they no longer appear on screen - and creatures be limited to just three slots, but this has been one of the sacred cows of Kingdoms despite the many issues it has caused over the years. Now is our chance to fix it.

We are currently using a cap of 8 gear. This allows a deck to focus around 4 copies of two key gear, or one key gear and some support pieces. Like creatures, you will not be able to remove your gear without a card effect, but you can expect to see more card like "Recycle" in future sets.

Have Your Voice Heard

We expect that many of you will have a lot of opinions on what you've read today, and we want to hear them. In particular we'd love your input on the following:

1. The Gear Cap: Is 8 the right number?
2. Tribes Two: Stay in Standard or go?
3. Guild Wars: Move to new Standard or stay in Legacy?
4. New Core: What are the cards you most want to stay? Most want to go?

Join the conversation on our official Facebook page. We will be regularly joining the discussion to address your questions, comments and concerns.

Special Announcement for Yahoo Players

Yahoo Games has announced that on May 13, 2016 it will be closing down.

Since launching Kingdoms CCG on Yahoo Games in early 2015, we have had thousands of Yahoo players try the game and we want you to know that we are not going to let the closing of Yahoo Games prevent you from enjoying your accounts.

Early next week we will be updating the Yahoo client. When you log into the game from Yahoo you will be asked to provide an email address and password. These will be applied to your existing account - all of your progress, cards and decks are yours to keep.

When complete you will be redirected to kingdomsccg.com, where you can continue to play. Note that this account can also be used on Steam and our Android and iOS apps.

We will post a follow up notice when the Yahoo changes have been made. At that time we ask that you clear your browser's cache to ensure that you get the updated version of the game.

Remember that you must convert your account over before May 13th. After that time, access to unconverted accounts will not be possible.

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This feature will made available to Yahoo Games players only. Our agreements will other portals such as Kongregate or Facebook do not allow transferring accounts to dotcom.

Site Update - March 16, 2016

Quick update today with just a few fixes:

1) Titan Arbiter no longer prevents creatures from gaining abilities while it is a corpse.

2) An exploit that would allow cards from opposite Kingdoms to be used in decks (i.e. Elemental cards in a Mystical hero deck) has been fixed. Decks can no longer be saved with illegal cards in them and both the Arena and Guild Wars will now reject such decks, even if they meet all other deck building requirements.

3) We've also added some new code to allow for some new creature abilities in future releases (this has no impact in the current game).

Monday Downtime and Next Release Info

Just a quick message to let players know that Kingdoms CCG will be down on Monday, March 7 from approximately 7:30 am to 9:00 am EST. We're doing network maintenance on our load balancers.

We have also submitted a new build to Apple and expect to have it live early next week. We have fixed the bug with Titan Arbiter and a deck building issue that was raised on the forums.

We're also pleased to say that we haven't had any reports of Guild Wars AI crashing since the fix in our last release (usually happening with complex, multi-Inverted Hourglass situations). If you do see this happening, please make a post on our forum, or let us know at kingdomsccgsupport@ganz.com. We are hoping that we've solved the issue once and for all, but Kingdoms is complicated code so there may still be fixes to go.

Balancing Notes and New Promos

With our new release, we will be changing a few key cards in the game to continue to enhance game balance. As always, when reducing a card's power level we focus our efforts on making small changes that do not change the core of the card's concept. When boosting a card, we are looking at why the card isn't played and trying to push it slightly into being competitive.

The Legends

There has been a lot of conversation about some of the Legendary cards that we have released over the past year, that they are too powerful, and too far above the power level of Legendaries established in the early days of the game.

We've been watching the use of these cards closely and have decided to make some small changes.

Elara: ATK dropped from 4 to 3

Elara was created for one reason - to gain life and to be very hard to kill. This has not changed. It is the core of who she is. By toning down her attack we retain this, but give opponents a little more time to deal with her or win the game before she can.

T'rror: No longer reduces damage by 1

T'rror is just that - a terror that can clear the board and must be dealt with quickly or overrun the battlefield. The issue is that by adding the damage reduction, we made T'rror a little too difficult to get rid of. Again, T'rror core concept - destroying the board and creating a tide of demons - has not been changed. T'rror will remain a top Legend choice in both Limited and Standard.

Birth of a New God: Mana cost changed to 3 + X where X is the current turn number

While players have called for all sorts of changes to this card, from limited which abilities it can get, to put caps on how big the creature can get, none of these suggestions really dealt with the core issue: 7 mana for a Legendary 6/6 creature with 6 random abilities is probably fine, but 7 Mana for a Legendary 20/20 creature with 20 random abilities is definitely not.

What we knew we had to do is scale the mana with the card. Now you can still unleash a 20/20 "Chuck Norris", but only if you've been able to hold the game and gain 23 extra mana while doing so.

You now have to plan your mana carefully to be able to play the card. By doing this the card has a clear position - as part of a mana-generation combo deck (which has clear counters), or as a counter to stall decks where you're often forced to sit gathering mana instead of interacting with the board.

Olfaan Slows Down - Scattershot moved from 6 charges to 7

Since Olfaan was given a boost last year he has rules both the Limited and Standard arenas, with top usage and a very solid win ratio. While slowing down Deploy Cannon has had a great balancing effect - there are now 7 heroes seeing significant play instead of 2 - we felt that Olfaan was a little too high up. We decided not to touch Loot Corpse - arguably his best ability - and moved back his ultimate 1 charge. This takes it more in line with Arcanos' ultimate that has a similar AOE damage effect (but that doesn't hit face).

Nourish Gets a Boost - Mana Cost reduced from 3 to 2

Nourish was originally costed at 2, but in Beta there were concerns about a spell that granted 3 Health for just 2 mana. Having been through the days of Ancient's Will and Divine Ascension ruling the meta, this concern seemed valid. Time has shown us that those concerns were unfounded, and it's time to get Nourish back to its original cost.

New Promos - Available Now!

For this Arena season we've done something new - we're releasing a competitive level card as the prize AND releasing it to everyone (who has completed a minimum of 100 battles) for purchase.

Let that sink in for a little while. In testing we were able to make a number of decks that made great use of the Helm, even at the cost of 5. We expect this card to create all new archetypes, and will definitely be worth battling for.

Can't place in the top ranks of the Arena? No worries, you can find in the card in the "Rewards" section of the shop.

We also have a brand new variant art card for Arena participation:

With these changes and the release of the all-new Meta Pack, we're in for some exciting times in Euna!

The Secret Seven

Hey Kingdoms Fans

Back in January we teased the release of a new mini-set and we are finally ready to reveal all of the new cards!

We are calling these seven cards "The Meta Pack" as they have been specifically designed to help out the Kingdoms in competitive play.

On to the cards!

Regulars of the official forums may recognize this card as I discussed it as a way to give the Holy Kingdom a unique spin on a direct damage spell, of which it is sorely lacking. Here we have a potential 1-mana targeted Lightning Bolt, and as it does physical damage, it laughs at Resist. Of course you do need to work for it. To get the most out of the card you'll need to have a full board - either riding the great Holy weenies, or a mass token generator like Exalted Enforcements or Queen of Dragons, or even the under-rated Sound the Alarm. Will Flurry of Swords be the card that gives Devroth and Belnir the opportunity to shine? Time will tell.

That is a big block of text, but let it sink in for a moment. This is negative status removal for Undead with a big upside. Tired of being Pacified? Sick of stacking Immolate? Release your anger and throw those effects back at your opponent. With the amount of negative status effects swirling around these days - Poison in Alchemy decks, Pacify in Stall decks, Weakness in Wilirus and Immolate in aggressive strategies - Share the Pain has the potential to be main deck worthy and is definitely worth slots in the sideboard.

By decree I declare that your elves will not have Haste, your zombies will not have Reassemble, and that New God you just summoned will arrive naked.

Titan Arbiter does something truly new in Kingdoms, it shuts down abilities on a global scale. Previously we've only had the unplayed Rune Word "Mundane" to help us against the many abilities in the game, but even that card didn't also prevent existing creatures from gaining abilities. Titan Arbiter works great alongside Skullcrusher Giant and Ancient Priestess - cards with powerful effects but no abilities. I'm also sure that Truesworn Titan won't even mind losing Splash if it means Fae Paragon arrives with no flight and Mindshocker becomes an exceptionally expensive Grizzly Bear.

As we all know, two mana creatures and spells and effectively "free". There will never be a turn that you don't have the mana to play them. Hence there are numerous decks that run solely on these cheap cards. But what if those small cards cost 3 or 4? That's the potential of Forge of the Maker. And when combined with Elemental's Mana Denial cards, Forge opens up the opportunity for a true "prison" deck that oppresses opponents while you move forward with your own plans.

The second line is new for gear and has a double edge. No you will not be able to Duplicate this card for fast copies, but you also won't lose the Forge to cards like this:

Oh yes. Why destroy gear when you can just take it? Acquire is gear removal with a particularly Mystical flavour. Inverted Hourglass? Thanks I'll take that. Lava Blade? Sounds like fun. Even a simple Mechana War Banner - better I have it than you, and I'll take the free War Drums effect. In many ways it's a surprise that this card took this long to make, and we expect that it will have an immediate impact.

Sometimes haste decks run into decks with big creatures that aren't easily removed by a Lightning Blast, or that try to slow down your assault with blockers. While small in size, Fireseeker is big in flexibility. Blocker? Just run around it. Scary big creature in another lane? Turn your Fireseeker into a guided missile for 3 damage and take it out. Note that Fireseeker is both a Goblin and an Element to help with Tribal strategies. (*This card is ELEMENTAL* It is being fixed)

Finally, we have a key card for the 2K era - targeted gear removal for everyone.  Sabotage is not a subtle card, but it does what it needs to do effectively. Sabotage also has been designed as the spiritual completion of the Charm cycle from Ascend and Descent, granting Unaligned heroes with a bonus ability of their own.

And there you have it, seven powerful cards that will change the game forever.

The Meta Pack will be releasing very soon, and for the low cost of just $10 USD (100 Kreds) will include *TWO* copies of each of these seven cards. That's 14 cards - over 350 Gems worth at standard promo prices.

The Meta Pack will be available until the end of April, when the cards will be moved to singles section and sold separately for gems.

And that's not all we have in store for our next release. Tune in tomorrow to get all of the details.

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NOTE: Due to the delay in preparing this release, this Arena's season will be awarding older promo cards that newer players may have missed. We will be announcing the new promos in tomorrow's post.

January 20 Release Notes

After a two day delay we've finally released our new update with the following fixes and changes:

1) Screen resolution on widescreen Android phones has been improved. You will now always use the full height of your phone.

2) Deploy Cannons has had its cost raised from 3 to 4, and is now banned from use in Limited. For a more detailed discussion of this change, please read: Kingdoms Update: Deploy Nerfgun.

3) The promo version of Queen of Dragons has been fixed.

4) A bug that showed Steelbane Overwatch having a cost of less than 4 while in play has been fixed.

5) We have deployed all of the necessary code for release on iPad. We will be launching the game on iTunes shortly!