Dev Blog - October 2026 Balance Patch

Hello friends!

We want to do a bit of a balance meta tuning while we are in the last stretches before the winter expansion, and the KARDS World Championship finals of course. Ring of Fire, and the balance patch that came alongside it, have impacted the meta in various ways, though many existing strong archetypes came out of it more or less unscathed and need some further addressing. Things are not so skewed though as to require a sledgehammer over a scalpel approach and we are mostly looking into some fine tuning. These changes are slated to go live on Thursday, October 15th. Let’s get to it.

Nerfs

2nd WEST AFRICA

One of the more popular cards from Ring of Fire, the 2nd West Africa allows for all kinds of interesting shenanigans and the community has shown great creativity in how to utilize its abilities. None have been absolutely backbreaking, but do show the need to reign it in slightly, hence the cost (and defense) increase.

3. PANZERGRENADIER

There are several must-answer units running around at the moment and the 3. Panzergrenadier is one of them. It can snowball very fast and take over the battlefield. We are slowing it down a bit by having it no longer affect itself. It remains a strong tool in various shells, but is a little less overbearing.

238th REGIMENT

The 238th has taken the world by storm and is one of the strongest cards to come out of Oceania Storm, finding a firm place in top meta decks like jaggro and skd. The defense reduction is a significant weakening of the unit, as a lot of popular units can now trade into it. It still packs a punch, but running this in anything is not as straight-forward now.

YOKOSUKA E14Y

There is an issue with the 0-kredit left mechanic in that it can be abused by activating and deactivating countermeasures. Thankfully, we have not seen many players abuse this, but we dislike the possibility existing. There are only 2 cards that use this mechanic and we are removing it from both of them. First up is the Yokosuka E14Y, one of the most impactful cards from Oceania Storm. Because it is already on the stronger side we are just straight up removing the draw part, keeping everything else as is. The card still has a lot going on, though it may no longer be an auto-include.

CRUISER SCOUTS

As explained above, the 0-kredit bonus effect is being removed. Instead we are making the Intel 3 be a fixed part of the card. To compensate, the cost is being increased to 3. Overall, this weakens the card a bit, the goal being to have it be a less potent tool in Forecast and control decks.

SPECIAL ATTACK

Special Attack is another card that has cropped up various decks it really has no business being in, but its power level is such that it has been worth it. We want it to stay in its lane more, so we are increasing its cost to 3. It is still a potent card in the right shell, but has less universal application than before.

Buffs

TACTICAL RETREAT

The self-bounce theme Germany had in Homefront has never really taken off, though it has several powerful pieces and only needs a nudge to become a lot more relevant. We are providing the nudge now, with a rework of the Tactical Retreat. Instead of being an unreliable countermeasure, being an order now gives players much better control over how and when to employ it. The effect is very powerful with the right support crew, hence the targeting restrictions.

16th RIFLES

We wanted to throw a bone to the Soviet soup archetype (having 2 or more combat keywords) by giving it a much needed cheap option. 16th Rifles is an old classic that has long since fallen out of favor. Shock is actually a very interesting keyword with the ability 16th Rifles has, because it makes the decision when to pull the trigger on attacking with Shock more interesting.

TUPOLEV TU-2

Soviet veterans are also getting a bone thrown at them, this time with a cheaper (and slightly smaller) Tupolev Tu-2. While Veteran decks have become a lot more popular (and powerful) with the recent buff to 102. Grenadier, this Soviet bomber has sadly not reaped the benefits. It will be interesting to see if it makes it in now, the ability is extremely powerful in the right deck.

SURPRISE ENGAGEMENT

While weather in general has been very impactful lately (in game and in the real world), Rain is perhaps the one that has seen the least love. A mid-range US infantry based deck is quite viable though, though tricky to build and pilot. We want to support this nascent archetype a bit more by strengthening one of the best tools at its disposal. A death-from-above effect tacked onto a unit draw for only 2 kredits is quite potent.

3rd CARPATHIAN

The 3rd Carpathians are victims of the recent changes to the rotation system (which will come fully into effect with the upcoming winter expansion), in that the unit it converts into is being rotated out soon. This is a blessing in disguise though, as Iron Division is a quite a bit stronger unit and makes the unit a lot more interesting in controllish Polish decks (that are not intel) - if such a deck exists. Well, maybe now it does. The attack has been adjusted down a bit to compensate for a stronger convert ability.

RAAF LIGHTNING F-4

Final change for today is actually reverting an old nerf. Raaf Lightning F-4 was a very strong tool back in the days for Brit Air and Brit Control decks and had its defense nerfed at one point from 5 to 4 as a result. There are different times now, so we are reverting the nerf so it now has 5 defense again.

That is all for this balance patch, which goes live on October 15th. It attempts to curb some of the worst excesses in the current meta while giving some almost-there decks that little nudge to get them over the line. It will be interesting to see what these adjustments will do to the meta, especially the upcoming World Championship. As always, keep your excellent feedback coming and we will see you on the battlefield, commander!