12th Edition, Hotfix 1

I've noticed a serious problem with the 12th Edition starter set: there was a card remaining which used the no longer valid "Immortality Counter" text. This hotfix addresses that. It also adds War in Heavan to the holy starter deck (since it was mistakenly missing from it), and this also includes some typo fixes that have already been pushed to the website.

12th Edition

This is the 12th published ruleset of Keeper of the Cards.

This update is largely a massive course-correction to the game. We had some lofty goals that we didn't exactly meet. We originally wanted to also add a mechanic to add creativity to the gameplay itself, but our attempts proved that these concepts weren't as good in practice as they were on paper and thus have been abandoned.

However, we did end up making massive changes despite this. Of particular note, this ruleset substantially simplifies the card creation process and eliminates what I like to call "numbers games": card combinations which weren't necessarily fun, but only served to effectively cheat out powerful effects. To that end, activation conditions no longer have any effect on a card's level, and lots of redundant targeting and activation cost texts whose only purpose was to engage in numbers games (like enemy's choice and exhausted creature targeting) have been completely removed. Creature caveats and Immortality Counters have also been completely removed, the latter partially because it helps to reduce complexity of cards, but mostly because both of these were in practice mostly serving to cause games to drag on needlessly.

Despite the removals, there have also been several additions. A new "bury" mechanic has been added, which sends cards to the bottom of the deck, which is almost impossible to get to. New targetings have been added, including ones that allow choosing a specific card in your hand or an opponent's hand. Activation conditions have been substantially expanded, opening up lots of possibilities for interaction. You can even stitch together multiple "sub-abilities" – combinations of a target selection and one or more effects, together into a single ability, increasing the potential flexibility of card design.

We've also made a move to fix a problem with games that have more than two players. Previously, when a player's HP reached 0, they were out of the game and could do nothing but wait for the other players to finish. To address this, a new mechanic called zombie players has been introduced, which allows players whose HP has reached 0 to still participate and be able to get a chance to win again by raising their HP.

There have also been a number of other changes. Costs across the board are quite different from what they used to be, often more generally accessible due to the removal of numbers games. Terms have also changed; what were previously referred to as "creatures" are now known as "minions", what was previously "deck-stacking" is now "sheathing", and a new "ghost-play" keyword has been added to clarify when you can ignore the usual requirement to exhaust a minion to use its ability.

To help people learn how to design their own cards, we've also added a new card building examples page which goes thru how to create some of the cards in the starter decks step-by-step. We're thinking of also posting some video tutorials which do the same thing on YouTube at some point, but for now, we hope this can help some people who might find the card building process intimidating step into it a bit more gradually.

Overall, while we didn't exactly accomplish everything we wanted to accomplish with this update, we're pretty happy with this new ruleset and excited to start playing it. If you're as excited as we are, or if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please let us know!

11th Edition

This is the 11th published ruleset of Keeper of the Cards.

11th Edition marks some dramatic changes to this game compared to previous editions. Many of the rules have been completely rewritten, and card texts have changed so much that we've decided to make this the first ever "clean slate" edition, meaning no cards made for prior editions are legal for 11th Edition. This also marks the first time that the rulebook and card building guide are in HTML format, allowing them to be easily accessed straight from the website.

There are too many changes to make a fully exhaustive list, but here are some broad changes of note:

• Added an extensive lineup of keywords documented explicitly in the rulebook, which makes card texts much shorter and easier to understand. Nearly every card text component has been changed in some way.
• Renamed several field zones: "battlefield" instead of "Creature Zone", "trapfield" instead of "Trap Zone", and "granary" instead of Resource Zone.
• Added several card text options.
• Revised the costs of most card texts.
• Activation conditions now have a more pronounced effect
• Added explicit chaining rules to govern interactions with named counters and card abilities.
• Increased starting HP to 35.
• Increased the deck size from 25 cards to a range of 40–60 cards.
• The reserves now consists of only up to 5 cards, and the way it is accessed has changed: instead of exchanging cards between your reserves and your hand, you now can obtain a card from your reserves instead of drawing.
• Replaced the previous random collection of cards with two starter decks: one with a holy theme, and one with a satanic theme.

We're excited to be able to finally play this updated version of Keeper of the Cards with other people. If you give it a try, please let us know what you think! Please also consider sharing any interesting cards you've designed. 🙂

10th Edition

This is the 10th published ruleset of Keeper of the Cards. It features the following changes compared to 9th Edition, revision 1:

• Added caveats of the form "you must [x] to attack with, defend with, or use an ability of this creature". The primary purpose of these caveats is to make creatures require a cost to attack or defend, but it's phrased this way to ensure that it cannot be exploited to produce infinitely powerful creatures that are only used for abilities.
• Added a caveat which destroys the creature if it is unexhausted at the end of your own battle phase. This is designed to serve the purpose of creating creatures that are required to attack each turn. (It is phrased this way to ensure that edge cases where no valid target is left do not break the balance of it.)

9th Edition, Revision 1

This is a quick revision which fixes some typos in the manual. It also includes a modified Lucifer card that works better.

9th Edition, Hotfix 1

This is a quick hotfox of 9th Edition. It fixes the fact that the Dark Necromancer example card was left with redacted text (meaning it was a banned card), and the fact that Sistrurus Catenatus had its cost misrepresented.

9th Edition

This is the ninth published ruleset of Keeper of the Cards. Changes since 8th Edition are:

• Added a new zone: "reserves", which is used to make it easier to get key cards out.
• Deck size now set strictly to a size of 40 cards, 10 of which are placed in the reserves at the start of the game.
• Starting hitpoints reduced from 60 to 20.
• Added a mechanism for modifying costs of card texts.
• Modified the costs of several card texts.
• Redacted several card texts that were deemed to be unbalanced.
• Improved the text in the manual and on the tip cards further.
• Modified a substantial number of cards, too many to list here. Most were to account for redactions and modified costs, while some were simply to give cards new niches or make them more useful.

8th Edition

This is the eighth published ruleset of Keeper of the Cards. Changes since 7th Edition are:

• Un-redacted the resource destruction activation condition. (It was redacted because it seemed useless, but I noticed that it could be useful with cards like "Crop Rotation".)
• Expanded the various reactive activation conditions to allow them to only trigger with the destruction of multiple creatures for better cost relief.
• Changed the way activation from the graveyard is explained. It was previously explained in the rulebook, but it is now a part of the card texts instead.
• Made various small improvements to the manual.
• Fixed some problems with the tip cards.
• Modified or updated the following example cards: "Anubis", "Consolation", "Crotalis Horridus", "Defensive Strike", "Fire-Breathing Dragon", "Gabriel", "Guerrilla Warfare", "Horus", "Immortal Phoenix", "Judgment Day", "Mourning a Loss", "Show of Aggression", "Sistrurus Catenatus", "Stand Your Ground", "Tornado", "Vow of Vengeance", "War in Heaven".

7th Edition, Expansion Pack 1

This is an expansion pack for 7th Edition, adding an additional 18 example cards (organized in set3.odg). These are more divinity-themed cards; the second page is a series of Egyptian god cards for use as "kings" in various types of decks, while the third page is a set of additional Christian-themed cards (adding to "Holy Sacrifice" and "Serpent's Temptation") centered around resurrection, field-swarming, and taking enemy players' cards.

Additionally, a couple problems with Camelus Bactrianus have been fixed; its cost has been corrected, and it no longer has exactly the same effect as "Animal Shelter" as it previously did.

7th Edition

This is the seventh published ruleset of Keeper of the Cards. Changes since 6th Edition are:

• Removed the chains system. I determined that the chains system was a major source of stalling the game, which was a serious problem. As such, chains have been removed entirely, and all card texts related to chains have been redacted. You are now expected to either use counters, or react to e.g. your creatures being damaged or destroyed for retaliatory effects.
• Redacted the activation condition for when "this card as a resource is destroyed". This is a leftover from previous editions where you could target and destroy enemy resources; without that, it's a useless activation condition since the only way to have your resources destroyed is to do so yourself.
• Added new options for card texts: activation conditions for when creatures are damaged, but not destroyed; and an effect placing "dice counters", which allow you to re-roll dice, onto creatures.
• Renamed the example card, "Intimidation", to "Show of Aggression", and changed it to be in-line with the new rules.
• Changed and/or updated the following cards: "Call Their Bluff", "Camouflage", "Crotalus Horridus", "Cthulhu", "Dance of Resurrection", "Dark Necromancer", "Defensive Strike", "Fire Breathing Dragon", "Freyja", "Guerilla Warfare", "Kraken", "Lying in Wait", "Magic Dice", "Mourning a Loss", "Multi-Tool", "Odin", "Reaper of the Forest", "Sistrurus Catenatus", "Stand Your Ground", "Tornado", "Unicorn".