Patch notes

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New features

• Find collectors by their permanent player code
  My Profile now shows a unique public player code with a Copy player code button and a manual-copy fallback. Existing and new accounts receive a code automatically, and it stays the same when your username changes. Verified collectors can open Find a player from My Profile or Friends and enter a complete code; capitalization, spaces and hyphens do not matter. Results show only a username, avatar and public-profile link. Privacy & Messages lets you allow lookup by every verified collector, accepted friends only, or nobody. Blocks in either direction hide the result, and existing friend-request and message permissions still apply. Lookup does not send requests or messages, and general public PvP remains unavailable.
• All active beta testers can try private two-player battles
  All active beta testers can open Experimental PvP from the War Room without separate approval and pair with another active beta tester or staff member using their exact player code. Each player commits their own legal army. Battles now use the existing War Room board, hand, inspection, blue targeting, cosmetics, VS introduction and dice presentation, with your army on your side and the opponent's hand concealed. Turns and React priority belong to the two players, with synchronized updates and reconnect recovery. Soft countdowns allow 90 seconds for ordinary decisions and 45 seconds for Reacts before showing a reminder. Refreshing or reconnecting preserves elapsed time; reaching zero never automatically passes, selects an action or forfeits the match. The match menu offers a private player-view log and issue reporting without revealing the opponent's hidden cards; reports can include browser diagnostics. Controller support remains opt-in and staff-only. Verified accounts are required, and lookup privacy and blocking still apply. Access remains limited to active beta testers and staff. New lobbies can earn capped PvP gold; achievement rewards, rankings, win/loss records and public matchmaking remain disabled.
• Rules, tournament sheets and import templates in one library
  Downloads under Tools brings together the unchanged current Rules Tome v2.0.9, Tournament and Event Rules v1.0.2, the illustrated Quick Start Rules, the original blank fillable tournament registration sheet and a collection-import CSV template with an example row. Start here, Full rules and Tournament play guidance explains which files to choose. Each document has a shareable page with a copy-link button, source details and clear current, introductory or historical labels. PDFs can be read on demand with page navigation, zoom, phone-friendly fit-to-width and optional extracted page text. The reader displays one page at a time and releases its resources when closed; download links remain available without JavaScript or if the preview fails. Page text is a best-effort aid, not a fully accessible replacement for the original document. A clearly labeled mobile-friendly Quick Start is 87% smaller, preserving all six pages, text and layout; its page links to the unchanged original for highest-detail printing. Search by title, format or version and filter by category even without JavaScript. The unchanged v2.0.8 tome remains marked superseded under Previous versions. Instructions explain how to fill or print the tournament sheet, export a saved deck, identify exact card printings and replace collection counts safely through import review. Published files are public; private collection imports and saved-deck exports still require sign-in. Links to the Rules Compendium and printable quick reference remain available. These library improvements do not change the PDFs or War Room rules.

War Room & rules fixes

• Marksmanship stays optional
  Ranged Orders now separate using Marksmanship, skipping it to choose a target, and canceling an uncommitted strike. Skipping does not spend the Limited React. If you use it, the DC 20 check happens before choosing a successful benefit and then a defender. Swivel distinguishes Journey-only from Journey plus Marksmanship; Rone's granted strikes, Mair's private ordering and later strikes in a paid sequence preserve their proper continuation. Mair's checked strike opens battlefield targeting directly, keeps her chosen top-three ordering through both strikes, and resumes the pending target after refresh. Clicking a target while the previous command is still finishing no longer removes Order targeting. Rone's extended range no longer includes targets that are too close. Fatestring Bow keeps the successful +5 after revealing the discarded card's level. CPU choices follow the updated flow, and open Marksmanship controls remain responsive when the interface reinitializes.
• Clearer Glaciate stat changes
  Characters affected by Glaciate now show its attached -2 ATK, AC and Skill penalty separately from positive turn bonuses. The AC breakdown shows the base, Glaciate penalty, turn modifiers, other effects and resulting total, so a shield bonus cannot be mistaken for Glaciate increasing AC. This clarifies the existing effective stats rather than adding another penalty.
• Clear choices after successful feats
  Charisma now asks you to use the check first, then choose advantage or disadvantage only after success. Successful Sleight of Hand lets you take and equip an eligible Item or decline and leave it in place; Items that cannot be equipped still follow the required destruction rule. These decisions survive refresh, preserve paid Limited uses and work with controller navigation. Passing an unused optional React keeps the interrupted action intact. Interrupted feat Reacts also recheck their performer and target, so Defend cannot redirect to a Character that left play or is no longer a legal defender. Equipment-triggered choices finish before returning to a pending feat decision, and each check appears only once in the dice history.
• Stacked Crush keeps both Item selections
  Using two Crush Reacts on one strike now preserves both selected Items instead of replacing the first selection. A successful strike destroys each still-equipped selected Item once; a miss destroys neither. Removed equipment no longer leaves its HP or Skill bonuses behind. Saved strikes using the older single-selection format remain supported. The game log names each Item destroyed by Crush and explains natural-one failures and natural-twenty successes in after-strike saves. Deverenus' Axe still applies one wound for each failed save; its wound rules have not changed.
• Q3 equipment and formation rules in both battle modes
  In PvE and beta PvP, equipping Nightfire Manacles alongside Revenger now keeps both Weapons when they fit the allowed capacity, instead of offering an incorrect destruction choice. Cursed still prevents later Weapons from being equipped. When both armies have illegal ranks, formation repair follows initiative order rather than always starting with seat one. Completed movement and React sequences clear leftover continuation bookkeeping without dropping pending choices. The Rules Compendium now references Tome 2.0.9 and explains mandatory equipment capacity, effects between falls, within-rank movement, and banishment instead of ripping cards. Unsupported legacy cards remain unavailable in the War Room; this update does not unlock Crushing Weight, Limited Wish, or Phoenix Feather.
• Level-zero deaths resolve correctly
  Wither and Essence Drain now kill Characters whose actual level falls to zero, even when HP remains. These deaths allow eligible Death Reacts and Well of Screams' banishment replacement, then continue the interrupted game flow and any required formation repair. Refreshing or retrying does not repeat the death. The shared PvE and PvP handling also catches deaths when a temporary level bonus expires. Quartermaster Dirge's equipping-only level penalty does not kill Characters.
• Movement Reacts and interrupted Orders resume in the right order
  In both CPU and two-player battles, Walk on Wind and Squire Fendric preserve their original movement React after mandatory formation repair, before offering the next Journey or optional strike. Destination choices, including Swivel and nested Journey effects, repair illegal formations before opening their movement Reacts; fall-forward Reacts retain their immediate timing. Multi-step Orders stop their remaining effects if their performer leaves play, while preserving completed movement and paid costs. Discarding the source card alone does not cancel a surviving performer's Order. Swivel no longer consumes Marksmanship or queues a new strike for a performer who left play during its movement interruption, and public game messages explain these cancellations.
• Fair React opportunities and safer spell resolution
  In both CPU and two-player battles, completing a React gives the opponent the next React opportunity, including after nested feat choices. You can still combine Reacts such as Crush and Rockarm after the opponent's opportunity. Lethal failed-save wounds now allow Death Reacts before discarding the Character, including Well of Screams' banishment replacement. Interrupted save rolls and multi-target effects stop their remaining steps when an outside effect removes their performer; paid costs and completed effects remain. Discarding the source alone does not cancel the action, and an action's own performer-removal effect keeps its rules exception. Banishment repairs illegal formations before later queued effects continue, and queued buffs no longer modify departed targets. Game messages explain priority handoffs, stopped effects and mandatory repairs without revealing hidden cards.

AI & challenges

• Safer support-Warlord positioning
  High Acolyte Hellene no longer treats an empty spell plan as a reason to march into melee, including when another Character offers her a Journey. Equipped Luthlarius Regalia can justify a safe rank-two advance when she retains a usable spell and gains a useful opposing target; holding the Item in hand is not enough. Retreats, required movement and strong ready attacks that can defeat the opposing leader remain available. Ordinary CPU Warlords also consider visible enemies that will ready next round when weighing future attack positions. These forecasts do not inspect opposing hands or predict their draws. Card rules and movement costs are unchanged.
• More purposeful Dragon Lord decisions
  The Dragon Lord better distinguishes useful staged movement and strikes from wasted Arcane Approach or Griffon activations. Arcane Approach can still be worthwhile for its Fighter strike when the Wizard target cannot advance. Formation scoring weighs immediate attack pressure against reserve space, with stronger protection when a Dragon is actually waiting in hand. Well Supplied now receives a readiness-aware equipment-reveal value without inspecting upcoming cards. Movement explanations distinguish immediate reach, future positioning and retreats, while existing leader-safety and mandatory-movement checks remain in place.
• CPU weighs lethal effects and their consequences
  CPU spell scoring recognizes when Wither can defeat a Character through actual level loss and when Essence Drain can defeat one through level or HP reduction. Initial choices and automatic strike retargeting account for visible Death Reacts, including retaliation, healing and protection for surviving Characters. The CPU distinguishes normal death from banishment instead of death and weighs losing access to a discarded card. Well of Screams no longer treats a charge on its dying bearer as useful or automatically suppresses a beneficial friendly Death React. Public board forecasts account for secondary deaths after HP support or equipment disappears, and follow-up attacks are more cautious around visible Death Reacts. Required rolls, paid costs and friendly-target penalties still matter; level loss is not counted as wounds. These estimates use public information, never opposing hidden cards or predicted draws, and do not change card rules.
• Smarter sacrifices and discard recovery
  CPU armies now weigh the Character, equipment, formation support and visible Death Reacts lost when paying a sacrifice. Ordinary armies share stronger Stormlord and Bone Fiend payment protections, and Treyik avoids buffing a Character sacrificed to pay the cost. Discard payments preserve useful recovery material when a public recovery source is available. Grave Exchange values legal placement rather than pile size, including reviewed Enter Reacts, later strikes, healing, readying and safer Journey options. Recovery uses the correct destination, removes expired grants and accounts for visible wound prevention and Death React consequences. Risk to the returned Character discounts later opportunities without erasing an immediate Enter React. Frameseer's Survey and Wraithstalker's deck cost use public card counts, never hidden identities. Visible opposing entry abilities can flag uncertainty without guessing a recruit from hand. When a forecast reaches its safety limit, all recovery choices keep comparable fallback scores instead of favoring whichever was checked first. These improvements apply to ordinary armies and the Dragon Lord. Lord Barrow and Well of Screams check discard casts with final tactical scoring before committing. Decision explanations distinguish immediate value, later opportunities, partial estimates and limited forecasts. Consecutive actions are not guaranteed; concealed cards remain private, and card costs and rules are unchanged.
• CPU armies make better use of neighboring Characters
  CPU placement and movement now compare eligible neighboring support instead of awarding a flat bonus for standing between two cards. This includes Joleg's faction-specific ATK, HP support lost when a Tunnel Vanguard moves, fall-forward positions, and reviewed conditional opportunities such as Graham's Marksmanship, Storm's Attendant's Survey, adjacent healing, Kraig'dem's payment options and Valdimar's equipment React. Already-granted bonuses stay with their original recipients. Strike redirects weigh the original and replacement targets' visible damage and defeat risk instead of using a React simply because it is available. Fireball and Sklot account for original neighbors' save chances and friendly harm; Scepter and Thunic distinguish useful spending from affecting an already-spent Character. Sklot's splash is no longer counted twice. Position choices retain room in the bounded search without crowding out other action types. Decision explanations distinguish support gains, support-loss deaths, redirect safety and limited forecasts. These estimates use public information, do not assume uninterrupted follow-up actions or rescue by optional Death Reacts, and do not change card rules or unlock unsupported cards.
• Defend protects the right character
  CPU defenders now compare an incoming strike's expected wounds and defeat risk on the original target and the defender, including armor, check chances, Warlord safety and remaining Limited uses. An initially unfavorable rating no longer prevents that comparison. Kurak no longer treats his own Holy Might as a threat to redirect away from its intended recipient. Explanations distinguish useful protection from unsafe or unverified redirects. Forecasting remains bounded and uses public information only; Defend's rules and legal choices are unchanged.
• CPU armies use Journeys to recover their formation
  CPU armies evaluate Squire Fendric's paid advance and optional strike alongside Sister Kiren's Journey and other reviewed movement abilities, including moves that require falling forward before recruitment or useful combat opens. Journey Reacts, Overlords and the Dragon Lord now share verified formation-recovery planning. Repair choices account for spending, stunning, movement bonuses, settled neighboring support and immediate and next-round visible leader danger, without counting already-playable recruits as newly opened opportunities. Griffon and Warboss consider verified repair routes; Vactus cannot override an unsafe or unverified forecast. Already-paid destinations do not pay again, and Flamefall, Cloudracer and Bloodsteed account for their reviewed costs. Public Spiked Pit hazards and unresolved movement Reacts receive no assumed successful-save or follow-up payoff. Mandatory repairs are rechecked on the actual board. Explanations distinguish verified opportunities, unresolved hazards and forecast limits. The search stays bounded, uses the CPU's own known hand and public opposing information only, and does not assume unresolved Reacts or change card rules.
• Smarter Swivel, Walk on Wind and ranged-threat decisions
  CPU Swivel choices compare legal Journey landings for the exact pending ranged Order instead of favoring unrelated melee attacks. Skipping Marksmanship earns no check benefit; using it weighs the check chance and the selected strike's benefits. Walk on Wind now evaluates its paid first move for non-Shamans and compares an optional second Journey with declining it for Shamans. Unresolved repairs, hazards and public movement Reacts still stop speculative follow-up credit. Public threat estimates recognize payable Kraig'dem, Mair Haven and Merrick Regalia ranged Orders without inspecting hidden cards or predicting Mair's private deck ordering. Leader safety includes nonlethal ranged wounds, Belasco weighs ranged pressure against shelter given to the opponent, and moving characters recheck newly reachable paid ranged targets. Forecasts remain bounded, explanations distinguish verified and unverified lines, and card rules are unchanged.

Deck building & collections

• Explore the first Baraxton card previews
  Baraxton: The Guilds Conspire now uses the regular set checklist and individual card pages for the ten revealed cards, with original preview images, transcribed card text, search, filters, and grid/list views. Signed-in collectors can save quantities and find owned or missing previews; progress counts only the revealed cards, not the full announced 240-card set. No unrevealed cards or speculative foil variants have been added. The Modern set remains clearly labeled an incomplete, unreleased preview, announced for Q1 2027 with no exact date confirmed. Deck building, proxies and War Room play remain unavailable pending separate review and the updated Rules Tome. The homepage rotates between the released-set spotlight and Baraxton every eight seconds, with Previous, Next and Pause/Play controls. Rotation pauses on hover, stops for keyboard focus until explicitly restarted, and pauses off-screen or in a hidden tab. Reduced-motion preferences start with manual navigation; both spotlights remain available without JavaScript. The three Store Championship foil promos remain in the ITA promo checklist rather than appearing as Baraxton cards.

Rewards & cosmetics

• Earn up to 20 gold a day in Experimental PvP
  New beta/staff PvP lobbies award 2 gold for a completed win and 1 for a loss, plus 3 for your first eligible win each day. Total PvP earnings are capped at 20 gold per account per Eastern day, including that bonus; the last payout is reduced to your remaining allowance. The allowance resets at midnight Eastern and follows daylight saving time. Only your first two completed matches against the same opponent each day qualify. Bounty gold stays separate, and spending gold does not refill the allowance. Both players must remain verified and eligible for PvP testing. Closing or abandoning a test and disconnecting do not award gold; draw and concession payouts are not enabled. Existing lobbies receive no retroactive payouts. The lobby and Match menu show your own earned gold, remaining allowance and match payout; refreshing after another match or midnight updates the counter. Retrying the final action cannot pay twice. Rankings and achievement rewards remain disabled.

Interface & accessibility

• More reliable controller focus recovery
  During the controller trial, board refreshes no longer pull focus away after you switch to the mouse or keyboard. Returning to the controller first restores a safe selection without activating it. Nested inspection windows keep navigation and Back in the top window when a control disappears, becomes disabled or is hidden; closing it returns to the underlying choice. Controller highlighting now follows successful focus rather than marking an unreachable control. Existing held-button protections remain in place, and controller access remains opt-in and staff-only.
• Keep your choices while inspecting cards or going Back
  Inspecting a hand Action no longer selects it for the Dragon Lord. Fall-forward destinations survive View and Inspect, and closing inspection leaves the underlying equipment tray and its selected Item available. Back from recruitment or equipment confirmation restores the selected card and legal positions. Reinitializing an unchanged board preserves placement and multi-target selections; replacing the board discards outdated controls. Direct discard choices remain available when a submission is blocked or rejected, without replaying it automatically. Repeatedly reopening the Dragon Lord chooser no longer accumulates controls, and battlefield target labels distinguish identical copies by army, rank and position. Card rules and costs are unchanged.
• Silk Pearl and Prismatic Etched card finishes
  Ordinary foil cards now use the softer Silk Pearl finish across card, collection and deck views and the shared PvE/PvP War Room. The special ITA promo artwork for Master Dresden P51, Deverenus' Axe P52, Noble Sacrifice P56 and Teufeltiger's Shroud P57 uses Prismatic Etched, with fine etched texture and individual artwork highlights. Enlarging card artwork preserves its finish, and checklist reflections stay on the card rather than the surrounding space. The sheen moves gently at rest and follows the pointer. On the battlefield, artwork and foil turn together when a card is spent or stunned, while names, status labels and controls stay upright. Reduced-motion preferences keep the finish still. Other nonfoil artwork and cosmetic sleeves are unchanged.
• Clearer ornate dice
  An earned dice design now has cleaner face borders, more visible detail in shadow and stronger engraved numbers at game size. Its original animated artwork and true 3D rolling remain intact. Roll values, reward requirements and reduced-motion support are unchanged.
• Clearer Sleight of Hand Item targeting
  Sleight of Hand keeps eligible equipment carriers visibly blue in either army instead of dimming them with unrelated cards. Choose a carrier, then its Item; browsing and going Back do not spend the Order. Equipment-granted entry identifies the acting Character and no longer describes an Item as selected before you choose it. Targets are restricted to Items within one rank, excluding attached Action cards. Mouse, touch and the staff controller trial use the same legal selection flow.
• See which effect your opponent chose
  Public effect choices now get a readable War Room announcement in CPU and two-player matches. Marksmanship identifies +5 to the strike roll, +1 wound on a hit, +1 rank of range, or skipping the feat without canceling the strike. Supported choices also include Charisma, Sleight of Hand, Warboss effects, Birdsong's named type, Epic Judgment's chosen level, class and faction choices, optional movement, and multi-mode Actions such as Holy Might. Choices remain readable during catch-up and stay in the Battle Feed. Announcements resolve automatically without another confirmation, and repeated updates do not replay the same choice. Private hand and deck selections remain concealed.
• Beta testers can read shared patch-note previews
  Active beta testers can open shared pending patch-note preview links while signed in. Previews remain read-only and clearly marked unpublished; editing and publication stay restricted to staff. Previewing does not clear unread published updates or expose drafts in the public archive.
• A fresh start for Otto’s Emporium
  The gold shop is now Otto’s Emporium, styled as a merchant’s counter with warm woodwork, Grand Inventor Otto’s workshop artwork, a separate gold balance and a mobile-friendly layout. A keyboard-accessible counter link takes you to the stock area. Find it in Tools when signed in; existing Reward Vault links still work. The previous gold-reward catalog has been deleted while replacements are planned, and purchased shop cosmetics are no longer available to equip or reuse. Matching active titles, frames, borders and collection styles are cleared; shop sleeve selections return to the standard fallback. Foil portraits return to their normal artwork where available, otherwise the account uses its initials. Old purchase links cannot spend gold. Gold balances and transaction history are preserved; rewards earned independently outside the gold shop are unaffected. The empty counter clearly explains that new rewards are being planned, without sample merchandise, unusable filters or purchase controls. Standard profile portraits remain free.

Bug fixes & performance

• React targeting stays available
  Battlefield targeting for Nog, Pog, and Snivels, Master Dresden, Birdsong Druid, and Quartermaster Dirge no longer disappears when a target is clicked while the previous action is still processing. Busy clicks on targets or Pass leave the controls available to try again when processing finishes. Rejected React submissions restore the same selection step, including Birdsong's named card type, Dirge's first target, and shared multi-step choices. Reopening targeting removes old target controls rather than accumulating them. Reinitializing an unchanged board preserves your selection and confirmation; a replacement board clears outdated prompts and uses current choices. Item and discard pickers clean up their temporary controls when closed. Outdated choices still require the current board, and uncertain connection results still use the existing recovery controls rather than replaying an action automatically. Card rules, costs and Limited uses are unchanged.
• Inspect without losing your Journey destinations
  Opening View or Inspect while choosing a Swivel, Journey or movement destination no longer removes the blue destination choices and leaves the move stuck. View opens card inspection directly during movement selection, and closing inspection keeps the pending choices available. In the controller trial, X on a highlighted destination inspects the moving Character and Back returns to the same destination. Confirmation still requires an explicit choice; inspecting does not move a card or pay another cost.
• Less repeated War Room preparation
  War Room requests reuse common rules services during that request instead of repeatedly rebuilding the same dependencies. This reduces server setup work and memory use before board preparation. Each new request keeps its own scope, and current board state and each player's private information remain separate.
• Steadier board refreshes and more useful game logs
  War Room refreshes settle battlefield sizing and scroll position before the replacement board is displayed, reducing the brief layout jump during updates while preserving mouse and controller selection behavior. Repeated combat, movement, spell-availability and card-value calculations reuse results within the same unchanged board evaluation, reducing CPU scoring work without changing die-dependent damage or rules. Game-log exports retain longer-lived timing summaries and sampled visual diagnostics alongside recent detailed events, helping investigate delays or flickers that occurred earlier in a match. These diagnostics do not capture screenshots or hidden card identities. The separate whole-browser blank seen in a recording remains under investigation.