We are proud to announce the upcoming release of our next major expansion, THE ENCHANTED GROVE, coming January 11th! This expansion will feature the addition of a 6th faction to the game, DRUIDS, as well as some new cards for the druid faction and a massive revamp of game mechanics and cards. Key features are:

A 6th faction, the enigmatic and nature-loving Druids, have joined the fight! Summon rampaging beasts and harness the spirit of the forest to protect your units and crush your enemies!

Faction identities return! Factions now have much tighter restrictions on what kinds of cards and abilities they may possess. Many neutral units have been returned to their original faction.

TRAP CARDS, a new mechanic available to all factions which allows you to set secret traps that can activate on your opponent's turn!

A general revamp of numbers and formulas, with more powerful spells, a sturdier Castle, and less ability to punish aggressive positions.

For this release, the team went back to examining core gameplay with basic cards to identify ways we could improve the pacing and momentum of the game. Traditionally the game has allowed for tempo swings too easily and too frequently, leading players to play a conservative game and generally not take aggressive positions until late game. Last summer we reduced the HP of the castle from 20 to 12 as a way to reward more aggressive positions with a potential early kill. This worked in improving the player experience without changing the card pool too much, but came with some significant downsides. A lower HP pool means players can sometimes be surprised by how quickly they die and feel that their position is too fragile to allow for interesting setups and longer-plan decks. By focusing on core mechanics and basic cards, we were able to come up with a rule set that feels more fair for all sides and addresses the actual issue of tempo swings directly, at the cost of majorly changing the game.

So Castles now have 20 HP, but we have nerfed or removed most ways for players to significantly punish an attacker directly from the hand. Most significantly, RANGED UNITS CANNOT ATTACK IMMEDIATELY when they are played. Playtesting identified the ability to punish attackers directly from hand with a ranged unit, gaining massive board presence at zero risk, to be the most significant deterrent to attacking.

Melee units have been mostly standardized to 3 movement, with special card text for units that can move 4 or 2 spaces. Units that move 2 spaces ALSO cannot attack on the same turn they are played, again because they tend to have higher stats and were too potently used as value-add castle defenders. Many units that were previously slow or fast have been changed to a standard 3 move unit with different abilities, and the SLOW attribute is used sparingly (and the FAST attribute for 4-move units is exclusive to ninjas).

Combat abilities such as CHAIN LIGHTNING and COMBO now activate when a unit counterattacks as well as when they attack. This can make aggressive positions much more potent.

Factions are now much more restricted in the mechanics they possess. This gives each faction more flavor, adds more weight to the dual-faction decision, and makes gameplay less unpredictable as you can now rule out significant options for your opponent based on the factions they are using. Additionally, many cool new combat mechanics have been added specifically to round out faction abilities and make them as cool as possible.

CRUSADERS: Crusaders are a defensive faction, possessing powerful healing and damage absorption abilities and card draw mechanics.

RESOLVE: The first time this unit would die, it instead survives with 1 health.

ARMOR: Absorbs the first X damage dealt to this unit each turn.

JUDGMENT: When this unit is attacked, it deals X damage to the attacker.

NINJAS: Ninjas are a trick faction, using amazing speed and return-to-hand tricks to surprise enemies and gain advantage in combat. They use the following unique mechanics:

FIRST STRIKE: This unit deals combat damage before the opponent.

STEALTH: This unit is invisible until it attacks. (unchanged from live)

EVASIVE: Can move again after attacking.

VIKINGS: Vikings are all about combat potency, strengthening their units and giving them devastating damage abilities. They use the following unique mechanics:

FREEZE: Freeze now prevents the target from attacking or moving for one turn. Frozen units also deal combat damage AFTER the opponent (the opposite of first strike).

CHAIN LIGHTNING: Chains damage to connected enemies (unchanged from live).

THUNDERSTRIKE: Deals damage to enemies in a cone in front and knocks them back one space (the specific area corresponds to the animation in game).

WARLOCKS: Warlocks love direct damage, spells and dark magic. They can burn their enemies with fire and drain the life from them with their dark powers. They use the following unique mechanics:

LIFESTEAL: When this unit deals damage, it heals itself for the amount dealt.

EXPLOSIVE: When this unit deals damage, it also deals extra damage to nearby enemies (unchanged from live).

INFERNO: At the start of your turn, deal massive damage to EVERYTHING nearby (replaces fire aura).

PIRATES: Pirates are thieving scoundrels who love treasure and will use any dirty trick they can to win in combat. Pirates have exclusive access to gold-generating abilities and are a debuff-focused faciton. They use the following unique mechanics:

TREASURE: Gain X gold at the start of your next turn.

STUN: Prevents an enemy unit from moving, attacking or counter-attacking for one turn.

RIPOSTE: Deals double damage on counter-attacks.

DRUIDS: Druids possess an affinity with nature and the creatures of the forest. They can absorb damage from allies with their spiritual bonds, and summon ferocious beasts to come to their aid. Druid mechanics favor ephemeral units and aggressive plays, completing the circle of life. They use the following unique mechanics:

SPIRIT LINK: Any combat damage dealt to your allies is redirected to this unit.

RAMPAGE: This unit can move and attack a second unit after the first (unchanged from live).

COMPANION: Companion units can be played next to any other unit you have on the board.

We're really excited about the release of this expansion and can't wait to get all these cool new mechanics into everyone's hands! Feel free to post any questions below, thank you!

Read original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/CardsandCastlesCCG/comments/7nb39u/upcoming_expansion_the_enchanted_grove_new_faction/