Card Crush Game Rules
Battles
A battle is a 5-round contest between two players, each using a deck of 5 unique cards.
- Rounds: Players lock in their 5 battle cards, and in each round (1-5) the player whose card has the higher Battle Score wins.
- Objective: Win 3 out of the 5 rounds to secure the battle victory.
Battle Deck
Each player assembles a Battle Deck of exactly 5 cards before the match begins.
- Locked Order: Once the battle starts, the order of your deck is locked and cannot be changed.
- Head-to-Head Matchups: Deck position determines which cards face each other — your Card 1 vs their Card 1, Card 2 vs Card 2, and so on through Round 5.
Battle Score
The Battle Score is the value used to decide each round.
Battle Score = Power + Affinity Bonus
- Power is the card's base strength stat.
- Affinity Bonus is a modifier applied when your card's Affinity dominates your opponent's on the Affinity Wheel (see below). It ranges from 0 to +3.
Determining the Round Winner
Every round has a single, definitive winner, with no draws possible. The winner is decided by the following stats:
- Battle Score: The card with the higher Battle Score wins.
- Speed Tiebreaker: If Battle Scores are equal, the card with higher Speed wins.
- Team Initiative Tiebreaker: If both Battle Score and Speed are equal, the player with higher Team Initiative wins.
- Final Tiebreaker: If all stats are still equal, a deterministic "coin flip" decides the winner.
Team Initiative
Team Initiative is a pre-battle statistic used solely for the third tiebreaker.
- Calculation: It is the sum of the Speed of all 5 cards in a player's deck.
- Purpose: It serves as a final strategic stat to break ties when individual card Battle Score and Speed are identical.
The Affinity Wheel
Every card belongs to one of 9 Affinities: Air, Earth, Lightning, Water, Fire, Ice, Nature, Light, and Shadow. When two cards clash, the Affinity Wheel determines whether one dominates the other and by how much.
How to read the wheel: Find your card's Affinity on the left (row), then your opponent's Affinity along the top (column). The value shown is your card's Affinity Bonus. Only positive values apply — if the value is 0 or negative, your Affinity Bonus is 0. A negative number means the opposing Affinity dominates yours (and is receiving the bonus on their side).
| Your ↓ / Opp → | Air | Earth | Lightning | Water | Fire | Ice | Nature | Light | Shadow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air | 0 | +3 | +2 | +1 | +1 | −1 | −1 | −2 | −3 |
| Earth | −3 | 0 | +3 | +2 | +1 | +1 | −1 | −1 | −2 |
| Lightning | −2 | −3 | 0 | +3 | +2 | +1 | +1 | −1 | −1 |
| Water | −1 | −2 | −3 | 0 | +3 | +2 | +1 | +1 | −1 |
| Fire | −1 | −1 | −2 | −3 | 0 | +3 | +2 | +1 | +1 |
| Ice | +1 | −1 | −1 | −2 | −3 | 0 | +3 | +2 | +1 |
| Nature | +1 | +1 | −1 | −1 | −2 | −3 | 0 | +3 | +2 |
| Light | +2 | +1 | +1 | −1 | −1 | −2 | −3 | 0 | +3 |
| Shadow | +3 | +2 | +1 | +1 | −1 | −1 | −2 | −3 | 0 |
Affinity Bonuses are applied automatically before Battle Scores are calculated.
Example Round
- Player A plays a Fire card: Power 7, Speed 5
- Player B plays a Water card: Power 6, Speed 8
Looking up Water vs Fire on the wheel, Water dominates by +3. So:
- Player A's Battle Score = 7 + 0 = 7
- Player B's Battle Score = 6 + 3 = 9
- Player B wins the round — despite having the lower Power, the Affinity advantage tipped the result.
Rating and Leaderboard
Players have a single rating that reflects their overall competitive standing. Both PVP battles and tournament battles contribute to this rating.
- Winning a battle increases your rating; losing decreases it.
- Defeating a higher-rated opponent generally results in a larger rating increase compared to defeating a lower-rated opponent.
- Tournament battles have a greater impact on rating than PVP battles, making tournament performance the primary driver of competitive progression.
The tournament leaderboard uses this rating to position players, with a higher rating securing a higher spot.
Rating Resets
To keep competition fresh, ratings are periodically pulled back toward the baseline of 500.
- Monthly Reset: At the start of each month, every player's rating moves halfway toward 500. (Example: a player at 700 resets to 600; a player at 300 resets to 400.)
- Quarterly Reset: At the start of each quarter, every player's rating is fully reset to 500, leveling the playing field for a new competitive season.
Card Attributes and Upgrades
Power: The card's base strength and the primary input to its Battle Score.
Speed: Functions as the first tiebreaker for a round and is a component of the Team Initiative score.
Affinity: One of 9 types (Air, Earth, Lightning, Water, Fire, Ice, Nature, Light, Shadow). Determines the Affinity Bonus in each round via the Affinity Wheel.
Rarities: Cards come in 4 tiers: Common, Rare, Epic, or Legendary.
Generally, cards of a higher rarity are more valuable, harder to acquire, and offer better performance potential.
Upgrading Cards
- Starting Level: All cards begin at Level 1.
- Process: Collecting sufficient duplicate copies of a specific card allows for an upgrade.
- Impact: Upgrading a card increases its core stats (Power and/or Speed), improving both its Battle Score potential and its contribution to the Team Initiative total.
