This update brings the introduction of the Light and Dark cardpools, a New character and a massive swath of new changes.


With the introduction of the last two elements, a character has been added that makes use of them. Every new character from here on out will use either Light or Dark, combined with one of the older elements.


Keeping eternal watch over the Hidden Realm, Atlas is a master at manipulating his resources. His near-full control over the top of his deck and extensive uses for energy give him a flexibility that experienced players are sure to enjoy.


There have been a number of changes to the game's core system in an effort to improve the game's pacing. The biggest change is the removal of the response system, which has proven simply unnecessary now that I have the last two elements mapped out. There simply aren't enough effects that warrant its inclusion, so I'm completely scrapping it and changing each mechanic that used to rely on it appropriately. Hopefully, this should result in players spending less time trying to figure out what options they have against their opponent, when in reality the question they just have to ask is "Do I have a card with Break and the energy to use it?".
Additionally, movement has been overhauled. The previous iteration was emphasised in the wrong areas, resulting in combos being too easily halted by an opponent's movement. I'm reverting it to an older iteration so that it serves as a bluffing tool, and what combo limiting potential it has now is now purely something for the attacker to think about, rather than both players.
Finally, the last big change is the removal of Mixups as a universal mechanic. It previously hampered the fun of the Outcome step. Whatever excitement players would have over winning the outcome was immediately sapped every time when reminded that the opponent could always mixup in response. Being able to alter the initial outcome of a turn is still important however, so it's being retooled into a new Keyword ability, giving a number of previously-mediocre cards some powerful new utility.

A common issue with many of the game's archetypes was a lack of focus on the playstyle at hand, and Water's energy-tax archetype was no exception. It's being changed slightly to also serve as the anti-stamina archetype, which is a mechanic previously did not have a home (shocking, you would think the Ice archetype would have already been doing this but oh well.)

The power of Earth's Voltron archetype was previously shackled by the overall damage of the Overwhelm keyword. Overwhelm is being nerfed to gain half-benefit from conditions controlled so that I may spread the power more healthily through the rest of the cardpool. One exciting result of this shift in power is the inclusion of Combo starters in their selection of Grapples (something which the archetype struggled with immensely before).

Wind is the element that receives the fewest changes this time around. It had already received an overhaul a few versions ago which aged fairly well in my opinion. The only notable change here are the removal of the Adapt keyword, a design space that Mixup performs more admirably.

Fire's three 'miscellaneous' cards were basically just an extension of the element's impact damage/attack archetype, so i'm moving them around. Wildfire is now the element's new miscellaneous archetype, since it didn't really fit in with the burst-damage archetype anyways.

Ever since i reworked the Wind element, thunder became my new least favourite cardpool design-wise. Too many of their effects were interchangeable and lacked direction. As a result, Thunder has received a overhaul from the ground up.
The speed archetype of the cardpool has been reworked to care as much about the spaces you occupy as the stamina you manipulate. With the inclusion of effects that scale with the number of unique spaces occupied per turn, Thunder decks who utilize this archetype will hopefully now want to actually care about positioning and covering as much ground as possible.
Thunder's other archetype was, to be perfectly blunt, a complete mess. the original goal of the archetype was to be the reusable, short-combo variant to Water's link archetype, something which the Echo keyword and focus on Initiative alluded to. The archetype has been reworked to better fit this playstyle, as well as put an emphasis on the Mixup keyword. The ability to quickly switch up your flipped action in order to win outcomes more consistently felt very thematic to Thunder. If i'm making Mixup into a keyword, I may as well make Thunder the premiere Mixup element.

This update brings some changes to the game’s base systems, along with some minor balance updates and a large amount of typo/formatting error fixes

Since the next update will be seeing the release of the last two Elements, I wanted to take some time beforehand to change some mechanics, as well as correct as many typos in the current cards as possible.

• Impact line updated in an attempt to further improve clarity
  
• Range impacts now have the Activated Ability symbol floating above them to help signify that they can be responded to
  
• Final impacts may no longer be responded to
  
• The Response String has been reworked; Instead of resolving everything on the string without interruption once both players choose not to use an activated ability, Players may now re-add new effects to the string after each topmost effect resolves.

Unfortunately, the Impact line is and always will be the most newbie-hostile aspect of this game. As such, it will likely be the part that I will be tuning for all eternity. The last changes I made to the Impact line's visuals had the goal to make it as clear as possible and to help players understand what impacts could or could not be responded to. Looking back, the changes I made failed to solve that problem, as it only served to add meaningless visuals that told the player nothing.
This time around, I have given each Impact the same basic design, with the range impact simply having an activated ability icon overtop of it to indicate that it's the impact that players can respond to.
Additionally, I have made Final impacts unable to be responded to in an attempt to cut down on the time players spend waiting to see if responses are declared during the impact step. Previously, I made them respond-able solely to help players with timing, which is no longer necessary. The new changes I have made to the response system should give players the leniency necessary for more complex plays with their Activated abilities.

• Breaks now all have the same universal base cost of 7 energy (previously, each Break had a different, card-specific cost)
  
• Breaks now cost 1 less energy for each action your opponent controls
  
• Breaks now negate Range impacts on the string instead of Link impacts.

Breaks are an important part of the game, as they allow players to counteract an opponent's combo potential. Previously however, they didn't involve any interesting decision making, as the optimal play was to simply Break the first link card your opponent presented, and even then it didn't stop any damage that card would have already dealt.
By negating the Range impact instead of the Link impact, Breaks will be a lot more versatile, allowing it to stop cards whose power might not come in the form of linking (such as cards with a very high damage impact or a knockdown impact)
The new cost should hopefully create more interesting strategic decisions, now that players have to consider whether to pay the higher price and stop a combo early, or risk taking more damage to save on energy


020 Kaminaga Teachings

• First A ability changed from a Break to an effect that is functionally similar to Break, with its own specific cost

111 Coral Strike

• P ability now also prevents the card’s Range impact from being negated
  
• P ability now specifies that its impacts cannot be negated by abilities

188 Fist of Rage

• W ability reworked; Previously expired a Wildfire condition to deal damage to the opponent, now lets you name an attribute for each Wildfire in play, the has that condition’s controller resolve its Triggered ability as though the named attribute was revealed.

This change aims to make the card more utility-focused rather than more damage. There have been a lot of instances in playtesting where I wished I could trigger the damage on wildfire early on myself or move the condition elsewhere, and Fist of Rage currently feels a bit lacking, so no better card to change. Having it be a Win ability still means there may be some overlap with Raging Inferno, so I'll be keeping an eye on this change and iterate on it further if necessary.

Burning (Condition)

• Second T ability reworked, now adds duration counters for each unique space you have occupied this turn at the start of the upkeep step, instead of adding a duration counter whenever you occupy a new space.

This change is simply to have the condition make a single trigger at the end of the turn for players to respond to, instead of potentially making an unnecessarily large amount of response strings one after the other simply because a player moved.

Static Disruption (condition)

• P ability changed from giving cards the Break keyword to giving cards a functionally similar Activated ability with a different cost that also cannot negate Activated abilities.

Misc

• 80+ typos and formatting errors fixed, affecting over 60 cards

• Added the updated versions of the Barrier cards, which I forgot to do in the initial update (whoops).

This update sees the introduction of two new characters as well as some balance changes.


This update brings forth two new characters: Tatsuyo, the Wanderer and Fang, the Siren. With these inclusions, the current cycle of fighters has been completed (a fighter for each color pairing currently in the game). This means that I’ll be able to begin work on the final two colors, which have been left for last while I get a feel for the core gameplay with the current colors.


A dishonored fighter who eviscerates all foes in his path, Tatsuyo excels in rushing down his opponent with overwhelming power. His ability to set up for high damage and manipulate Initiative gives him a depth and flexibility that is suitable for all skill levels.


A notorious pirate leader, Fang’s unique synergies with suspended cards and self-discarding effects allow her to cut through her opposition with blinding speed. The perfect choice for more skilled players with a propensity for self-mill strategies.


This update has only minor balance changes to the cardpools that the new characters are designed around; Wind, Fire and Thunder. Similar to the Earth changes in the last update, these changes serve to reduce the power at the Elemental Action level so that future characters in those archetypes can stamp their own unique identity and don’t all have to rely on the same cards/strategies.
The two older characters most affected by the new changes, Numachi and Jason Lai, have managed to adapt well to the changes overall. As a result, they will only receive minor buffs as compensation.

This update sees the introduction of a new fighter, as well as a decent number of changes to C’theeb and the Earth cardpool.


A mercenary who pins down his foes and mills their decks to extend his combos, Sakan has a simple playstyle that is ideal for beginners. His ability to manipulate an opponent's discard pile and steal combo pieces, however, can make him lethal in the hands of veteran.


With the introduction of a second mill character, I’ve gotten the opportunity to test the archetype further. I can now say with certainty that the archetype was overpowered due to the amount of damage that Erosion brought, which previously dealt damage to a player every time they discarded a card from their hand or deck.
Don’t get me wrong, Erosion isn’t an inherently bad mechanic, and the way C’theeb uses it is pretty much exactly how I pictured his playstyle in my mind. The problem is that, if Erosion is left as is, It would be impossible for me to make any new mill-based fighters without them playing the exact same as C’theeb, since they would all have to be balanced around the dps that Erosion provided.

For this reason, Erosion’s current damage effect is being removed, with a weaker version of that effect being incorporated into C’theeb’s base kit. Additional compensatory changes have been made where I felt necessary for both C’theeb and the rest of the Earth cardpool.
Even though I would consider these changes to be power-neutral overall (maybe a very slight nerf), C’theeb should hopefully feel a lot more fun and flexible to play as a result, and future Mill characters will have a lot more wiggle room to feel distinct from each other (such as Sakan)

- Fixed the C'theeb and Ryuki preconstructed deck descriptions, as well as the titles of their precon conditions/tokens

This update sees the introduction of two new characters as well as a slew of changes.



This update brings forth two new Fighters to play as: C'theeb the Sandmage and Temujin, Child of Fire & Ice. Each of them is designed around one of the two cardpools that have yet to have a dedicated character build: Card milling in the Earth cardpool and Energy taxing in the Ice cardpool.


Wielding the desert itself as a weapon, C'theeb is a zoner who wears down his opponents with Erosion, striking from anywhere on the field with the aid of Ill'an, his trusty serpent companion. Recommended for players who wish to mill their opponent's decks from afar.


Swapping between the DoT damage of his Fire side and the energy draining effects of his Ice side, Temujin excels at winning through attrition. His inability to access both sides at once consistently makes him very difficult to play, recommended only to skilled players that know when best to use his sides to their advantage.



Since both of the new characters utilize the same cards as her, Ryuki is receiving some compensatory buffs. Having additional characters to test those wind and fire cards have revealed that Ryuki has been relying too much on jank to perform well before. With the buffs to her burst and specials, as well as the changes in her cardpools as a result of the new fighters, Ryuki should hopefully feel much more consistent than before, particularly in the early game where she previously struggled the most.


The ice side of the Water cardpool has been updated now that it has a character for me to test it with. The goal of these changes is to make the cards feel less bricky when drawn at inopportune times.


The mill side of the Earth cardpool has revealed itself to be way too powerful now that a fighter has been made that was designed around it. Thankfully, this is mainly a numbers issue, as the special effects themselves ended up playing well otherwise. As such, expect to see grind and damage impacts in this selection of cards reduced across the board.


Designing a zoner in this game is hard for a very specific reason: You only have a finite amount of projectiles to play with and because of that, you have to go back into melee often. Even though this is not necessarily a bad thing, It’s still pretty lame to have to move back up close every other turn when you’re trying to live out the zoner fantasy of pressuring your opponent from the opposite end of the map. As a result, this update sees minor increases to range across the zoner half of the cardpool and a reworked Tempest Strike, built to give zoners a combo piece that can be used far away, even when they’ve run out of Projectiles to work with. Overall, even though zoners will still have to go back into the fray eventually, this update should give them more opportunities to hang back and let them spend less time moving around to re-adjust for range.


The DoT/condition half of the Fire cardpool previously relied too much on Vulnerable and Scorched ground to get tons of easy damage. Since most of the effects that abused vulnerable were individual actions that didn’t combo well, this meant that a bad set of early draws gimped your ability to do well, forcing you to set up one card each turn at a time. As a result, Vulnerable is being changed to only increase damage from conditions and tokens, opening up the opportunity to turn Fifth-degree Burn and Scalding Strike into link cards. Characters who use this half of the cardpool will now be less reliant on the vulnerable condition and have more opportunities to perform combos, meaning their damage will come from a wider array or sources (which I believe will make for a healthier experience in the long run)
Because I do have a limit on how many Link effects are present in each cardpool, sacrifices have been made on the other half of the Fire cardpool to accommodate these changes (don’t worry, they can still output strong combos, just not as hard as before)


The response system has received an overhaul in an attempt to make it less confusing and more approachable. Unlike Magic the Gathering’s stack, which can be avoided by new players until they feel ready to use it with their deckbuilding choices, This game’s equivalent is vital for positioning. This means that new players are forced to learn the system immediately. As such, making this system as newbie-friendly as possible has been one of my top priorities.
The goal in particular here is to establish a consistent logic on what can and cannot be responded to, which the previous versions lacked (physical effects as well as vague windows of opportunity). As a result, I’ve reverted the last update’s response windows change and removed responses from the Outcome step, adding a new Mixup feature to compensate.
I’ve also changed how triggered effects behave with a response string in an effort to prevent huge tangled webs of different response strings from happening. Now, Triggered abilities can only be responded to if there is no Response String currently active already, pausing an active string to immediately resolve the triggered ability without interruption. This should hopefully make triggers mid-stack quicker and less nightmarish to deal with.