Welcome to Cards & Tankards!

To any and all new players, I will be showing you in the coming guide how to play, what the game is like, and what to expect once you get past the tutorial. So strap in, grab a tankard, and let's get going!

What is Cards & Tankards (C/T)?

With its assortment of factions, cards, abilities, and mechanics, Cards & Tankards offers players the chance to engage in strategic game play in social or competitive scenarios. It can be best described as a fusion of Magic The Gathering's strategic depth and YuGiOh's physical card representation, especially with the use of monster holograms.

Where Do I Start?

You start the game outside the tavern where Maeve, the tavern keeper, will greet you and explain the rules. You'll need to be at least 13 years old to participate, so enter your age and provide an email address for progress saving purposes. If you're under 13, unfortunately, you won't be able to play. Once these tasks are done, you'll be taken to your own personal room.

Upon entering the private room, Maeve will provide step-by-step instructions in a user-friendly manner. To enhance clarity, I will dissect and explain key points mentioned by her throughout the tutorial. If you prefer to test the tutorial first, feel free to pause here and resume with the next section once you are ready.

Menu Guide

If you came straight from the previous section thanks for staying with me. If you left to complete the tutorial and came back, then welcome back!



The ESC button displays a MENU in the game. Your Ranked Level and Season Level are shown below your username. Season Levels are earned while playing, while Ranked Levels are earned by winning Ranked games. Moving from left to right, the buttons are Havens, Social, Props, Looking For Battle, Shop, Decks, Settings. We'll discuss the functions of each button except for Exit, which is self-explanatory. Let's start with Havens.



Press the Havens button to open the menu displayed above. There are two types of Havens: Standard and Draft. Standard is a regular social tavern where you can hang out and play card games with others. Draft, on the other hand, is a special tavern where you create a deck by choosing three cards. These decks can only be used in a Draft tavern or a private tavern.

In addition to the different types of taverns available, there are also taverns that only certain players can join. Two of the taverns have a purple diamond next to them, while the others do not. This may pique your curiosity. Taverns are also categorized based on player reputation, which comes in three types: Cordial, Exalted, and Neutral. Each player has a reputation, which can be seen below their username in the MENU. Your reputation determines which taverns you can join. I can join Neutral and Cordial taverns, but not Exalted ones. The type of diamond displayed indicates the type of tavern you can join: No Diamond for Neutral, Purple Diamond for Cordial, and Yellow Diamond for Exalted. Please remember this if you're wondering why you can't join a friend in a tavern.





The first image in the SOCIAL button represents a crowded tavern. To find a friend in this situation, you can open the SOCIAL section, click on TAVERN, and view a list of people currently in the tavern. The list is organized alphabetically for easy searching. The second tab in the SOCIAL section is for finding friends. You can see which tavern they are in or if they are online. The last tab requires further explanation.



The Refer a Friend section consists of two parts. The first part explains the process of using a referral, tracking the number of successful referrals, and the rewards for inviting others. The second part is a button called Referral List, which directs you to a list of people who have referred you. When creating an account, a screen prompts you to enter the name of the person who referred you, with just their username required.



Props time! No, I'm not going to make a shout out to anyone. That's the name of the next button on our list. There are a multitude of different props that are available to be used. I'm not going to go into each and everyone. What I'm going to do is just give a basic overview of the categories that are included.

The PROPS section is divided into six categories: Tankards, Duel Book, Wands, Dice, Armaments, and Quill. The most frequently used tab is Tankards, where you can summon a tankard for yourself or to share. The Duel Book tab allows you to customize rules for your next game. Wands let you shoot spells or modify other props. Dice offers standard options like D6, D12, D20, etc. Armaments contains staffs, swords, and axes. The final tab, Quill, lets you write or draw in the air with a feather pen and ink, creating sparkling lines. However, misuse of this prop can lead to trouble, so be cautious.

The next button is a simple one. LOOKING FOR BATTLE button is more of a notification for everyone around you. It will let anyone that sees you that you are looking to play a match. More or less self explanatory.

The SHOP is another simple button where you can buy Gems with real money or join Patron of the Old Gods. Patron will be explained a bit later because it has a bit of a long explanation.



The DECKS button simply brings up all of your decks that you currently have to either create a new one, edit old ones, or grab to play a match. Your decks list can be brought up using either the menu button or by hitting the L key.



Just like any other game Cards & Tankards has a SETTINGS button to adjust your game play. I won't get into this area too much because I can assume that we are all familiar with settings from other games but there is one I wish to dive into. That is the GAMEPLAY button.



Two noteworthy options are the Personal Space and Hide Cards in Hand features. Personal Space keeps annoying individuals at a distance, ideal when obstructed or distracted. Meanwhile, Hide Cards in Hand prevents opponents from seeing your cards, useful for preventing unwanted glances or other players making unwarranted announcements.

Now that we went through the buttons and what they do, I want to inform you about the visuals that are on the menu. First is your username at the top. Below that your reputation that we discussed earlier. Next to your username is your gold and Gem count. Gold can be used to buy some props and card packs. Gems are bought with real world money and can be used to buy a lot more. Gems can buy pets, props, clothing, card boxes, and enhance card packs you buy to give you a full pack of animated cards.

Starting Area

Now that you understand how to use your watch menu, it's time to understand your surroundings. When completing your tutorial you will notice the lovely designed area you are in. This is your Private Room. A personal space of your own for you to practice and play the NPC opponent with out the distractions of the tavern. We will go over the many parts that make up this area. Keep in mind that all of the key parts that are here in the Private Room are also in the tavern but some stuff for the tavern are missing from your Private Room.



First is your card pack area. This is where you can buy packs of cards with the gold/ gems that you currently have. Using gems here can allow you to buy specific faction packs, make your packs cost less gold, or give you the ability to open a pack which has all animated cards.



Next is your quest board. This is quite simple and it is covered in the tutorial. Using the quest board is the quickest way to progress through the season rewards.



Speaking of which. This is your Seasonal Quest Board. Here you can find not only the link to the Cards & Tankards discord but also a view of the season rewards, when the season ends, and the different rewards for each level that you pass. Keep in mind the rewards that has a gold base can only be redeemed if you have the season pass. I highly recommend getting the season pass at the beginning of the season because you will earn an extra 20% exp towards the progression through the season.





Last but not least is your ranked area. The ranked book will explain how rankings are handled plus right above it is a leaderboard of the top 50 players that hold the Master Rank. If you want a shot at getting up there then all you have to do is place a deck that you have into the deck insert below the leaderboard and wait to be paired up with someone. Good luck!

Tavern Area

Look at you! All done the tutorial and ready to meet everyone else who wants a piece of you. Well you can't just go in expecting to know the ins and outs just by walking in. I'll show you around.









If you look around you will see that a tavern is quite spacious. One tavern can hold 16 players and has 4 different tables to allow up to 8 players to battle it out at one time. Though some times a full tavern can get rowdy so it might just be better for you and your friends to find a less crowded tavern to play in.





Two key differences between a tavern and your Private Room is a availability of the Daily Card spread and a posted scroll of the tavern rules. The Daily Card spread is a long area which has cards you can buy with coins instead of having to buy packs and hoping to randomly get the card you want. The second difference is a scroll that has all of the rules for the game. Before you ask, no. You can't get away with breaking the rules and saying that you didn't see them in the tavern. Rules that are on this scroll are the same ones that you agree to when setting up your account.

Deck Building

Now I'm going to be honest with you here. I can't build a deck to save my life. I can definitely learn to play any deck well but I'm not good at building one. The only thing I intend to do is to educate you on is the UI of building a deck, the types of faction, their strengths/ weaknesses, card effects, and so forth.



The current UI for deck building is shown above. On the left, you can view your deck as you add cards to it. This section displays the cards used, primary and secondary faction, number of monsters and spells in the deck, faction distribution, overall mana cost, and the deck's name (please keep it appropriate). On the right, you have your card book, where all your acquired cards are stored. The book is organized by faction and sorted by mana cost. To add a card to your deck, simply click on it.

There are five major factions in the game: Auger Order, Plundering Guild, Wild Horde, Dungeon Master, and Neutral (though some may not consider it a faction). Each faction has unique monsters and spells to play. Additionally, each faction possesses a special ability that can be exploited to gain an advantage. For example, the Plundering Guild has a coin system that enhances card abilities, while the Auger Order allows players to discard and draw cards, activating secondary abilities. The Dungeon Master is a playable character on the field with passive abilities, and the Wild Horde gains mana by placing monsters in a discard pile. Decks can consist of up to two factions, not including neutral.

Choose factions that will benefit your deck overall. Remember, you can only use the ability of your Primary faction. For instance, if Auger is your Primary faction and Plundering is your secondary, you won't gain a coin every turn. However, there are cards that increase your coin count. Conversely, if Plundering is your primary, you'll gain a coin per turn but can't discard cards. Understanding and utilizing faction synergies will help you reach a master rank.

Factions aren't the only things with abilities to help you in a fight. Most cards have individual secondary abilities that are activated when a certain action happens. Both these abilities (both passive or the need to active) and activation requirements very from card to card.

Mastery-
Entrance-
Last Word-
Aftermath-
Deathblow-
Activate-
Enhance-
Plunder-
Discard-
Prepare-
Condition-
Ranged-
Flight-
Amped-
Taunt-
Duel-
Armored-