KARDS - The WW2 Card Game: Starting Hand Mulligan Guide

To build a consistent opening hand in KARDS - The WW2 Card Game, keep cards that cost one or two Kredits and return cards priced at four Kredits or higher. Securing cheap units and early removal prevents opponents from taking the Frontline uncontested while your Kredit pool builds turn by turn.

How the Mulligan Mechanic Operates

Before round one begins, you receive four random cards from your 40-card deck. You are given a single opportunity to select any number of those cards to discard:

1. Click each card you do not want to keep in your starting hand.
2. Confirm your selection to return the chosen cards to your deck.
3. Draw replacement cards to bring your opening hand back to four cards.

Because you cannot mulligan a second time, replacement cards dictate your opening sequence. Keeping expensive late-game assets gambles away your only opportunity to fix early curve issues.

Kredit Curve Thresholds

Your resource capacity starts at one Kredit on Turn 1 and increases by one each round. Any card costing four or more Kredits cannot be played until mid-game, leaving you with dead hand slots during the most critical positioning phase.

Even critical late-game finishers should be returned during the mulligan. Cycling them back into the deck maximizes your probability of drawing the cheap frontline or defensive tools required to reach later turns safely.

Factoring In Operation Costs

Card evaluation in KARDS requires tracking both deployment cost and operation cost. Units placed in the support line cannot attack or push the enemy Headquarters without first paying their operation cost to advance into the Frontline:

• Movement bottlenecks: A unit costing two Kredits to deploy and one Kredit to operate cannot deploy and advance on Turn 2. Its offensive presence is delayed until Turn 3 unless you already control the Frontline.
• Turn tempo: If your opening hand contains multiple units with high operation costs, they will compete for the same Kredits in turns two through four.
• Zero-cost and Blitz priority: Prioritize low-cost units with zero operation cost, Blitz mechanics, or immediate "on-deploy" abilities during the redraw to contest the center line without exhausting your round budget.

Archetype-Specific Redraw Adjustments

Tailor your mulligan decisions to your deck's win condition:

• Aggro (e.g., German Blitz, Japanese Infantry): Return any card costing three Kredits or more. Your priority is securing 1-cost and 2-cost units to flood the board and advance to the Frontline immediately. Missing a Turn 1 or Turn 2 drop severely weakens aggressive momentum.
• Control (e.g., Soviet Attrition, British Pinning): Prioritize low-cost removal orders, damage spells, and cheap Guard units over offensive attackers. While control decks win with expensive late-game threats, keeping those high-cost cards in an opening hand sacrifices the early defense needed to withstand enemy pressure.

Starting Hand Decision Sequence

Before confirming your redraw, follow this evaluation order:

1. Assess the opponent's nation pairing: Aggressive matchups like Germany and Japan require immediate cheap answers or Guard units, whereas slower pairings allow you to keep sturdy 3-Kredit midrange cards.
2. Verify turn-one and turn-two plays: Ensure you hold at least one active card deployable by Turn 2. If your hand holds only 3-cost and 4-cost options, send them back to search for early drops.
3. Discard all four-cost and higher cards: Send back heavy tanks, bombers, and expensive orders regardless of their rarity.
4. Calculate turn-two and turn-three operations: Check that your retained units have low enough operation costs to advance or trade without stalling your next turn's deployment.