KARDS - The WW2 Card Game: Soviet-Italy Little Maus Deck Guide

To pilot the Soviet-Italy "Little Maus" deck in KARDS - The WW2 Card Game, contest the early board with 1-Kredit Soviet tools, advance resilient Heavy Armor units into the frontline to absorb cheap attacks, and use Italian utility cards to stall opposing threats. This defensive attrition strategy blunts early aggression, protects your HQ, and grinds down the opponent's board resources.

Core Deck Architecture

The deck pairs the Soviet Union as the major power with Italy as the ally nation under the Stalingrad HQ.

How the "Little Maus" Defense Works

The archetype is named after the concept of establishing an impenetrable frontline wall using units with the Heavy Armor trait.

• Damage Mitigation: Units with Heavy Armor reduce all incoming combat damage by their armor rating per attack instance. Early 1-attack infantry or light tank strikes deal zero effective damage.
• Frontline Lockdown: Placing a Guard unit with Heavy Armor directly into the frontline stops opposing units from bypassing your defenses to attack the Stalingrad HQ.
• Resource Depletion: Aggressive decks running low-cost token swarms or light Blitz units cannot trade efficiently into Heavy Armor. The opponent must either sacrifice multiple units to break the blocker or spend high-damage removal orders on a low-cost anchor.

Early-Turn Sequencing

The opening turns rely on 1-Kredit Soviet cards to establish board presence and cycle through your deck.

1. Turn 1: Deploy 97th Rifles in the support line to threaten early movement into the frontline.
2. Turn 2: Move the 97th Rifles forward to occupy the frontline. If the opponent deployed a 1-defense threat, cast Bloody Sickle to remove it.
3. Turn 3: Deploy an armored blocker to secure the line. If card velocity is needed, cast Bloody Sickle on your own surviving high-health infantry to deal 1 self-damage and trigger the card draw.

Running a full four-copy playset of Bloody Sickle provides steady early interaction. Dealing 1 damage to any target unit while drawing a card whenever the target survives makes it equally useful as an enemy finisher or a self-cycle mechanism.

Mid-Game Control and Italian Support

Soviet ground armor excels in direct combat but often carries high operation costs and leaves you vulnerable to enemy air units. Italian ally cards offset these weaknesses:

• Stalling Opponents: Use low-cost Italian utility cards to pin high-value targets or apply combat delays, buying time to reposition your heavier tanks.
• Kredit Discipline: Avoid spending all available Kredits to deploy and move a single unit on the same turn. Leave enough Kredits open to cast Italian disruption orders or maintain reactive removal.
• Frontline Maintenance: Refresh damaged blockers or reinforce the frontline before your opponent can assemble enough combined attack power to punch through your armor threshold.

Mulligan Rules and Matchup Adjustments

Adjust your opening hand based on the speed and archetype of the opposing nation:

• Against Aggro (Japan / Germany): Hard mulligan for 1-Kredit tools. Keep all copies of Bloody Sickle and 97th Rifles to contest the board immediately and hold the frontline before Turn 3.
• Against Control (US / UK): Keep card-draw tools and avoid committing every resource into a single armored unit. Slower opponents run hard removal and bounce effects that bypass Heavy Armor completely.
• Failure Point to Avoid: Heavy Armor protects only against damage. Units returned to hand or destroyed outright by order effects bypass your armor values entirely. Always keep reserve units in hand rather than overcommitting to a single frontline blocker.