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Custom (multi-faction) deck type in the War Council — no faction restrictions, build with any cards you own
Coalition Forces starter deck granted to all commanders, draws commons from all four factions evenly
Loyalty keyword — creatures with Loyalty gain +1 Attack when deployed in a lane matching their faction's territory
Eight cards given Loyalty at launch: Wei Pikeman, Dian Wei, Shu Militiaman, Zhang Fei, Wu River Marine, Taishi Ci, Turban Zealot, Zhang Jiao the Great Teacher
令 Command pips above the hand — gold circles in rows of 5, replacing the old flag icons
Faction filter buttons in the deck builder when editing a custom deck

Multi-faction decks default lanes to one per faction in the deck rather than all Neutral
Coalition Forces defaults to Wei / Shu / Wu / Turbans across all four lanes
Tutorial steps are now strictly sequential and cannot skip ahead or fire out of order
Card inspector moves to the right on your turn and left on the opponent's to stay out of the way
All battle HUD text is larger, bolder, and uses the same font to match the lobby
Battle Chronicle auto-collapses on load
Card hand hidden during Prepare phase so the board stays clean

Spells targeting an opposing creature could be cast into an empty lane, silently consuming the card and Command with no effect
Tutorial step 5 could fire at game start before any prior steps had shown
"I'll find my own path" button did not dismiss the onboarding popup
Ready for War button disappeared when the card hand was hidden during Prepare
Card text on Forged Papers and Tun-Tian Farms still said "mana" instead of "Command"
Combat clash sound was too harsh on repeated attacks, sound lowered

Turn timer plays a warning chime when 15 seconds remain on your clock
Claiming a mission or achievement reward now plays a short fanfare
Volume controls replaced with drag sliders. Grab the dot and pull, percentage shown live

Daily mission pool expanded from 8 to 15 — more variety before missions repeat
Story Chapter 2 opening fight renamed "The River Vanguard" — Zhou Yu commands a fire fleet, not a band of sellswords
Chapter 2 blurb rewritten to correctly frame Lü Bu's ride south after Dong Zhuo's fall
Match history entries now record the time of day alongside the date
Settings panel is now a fixed compact size instead of stretching with content

Volume sliders no longer snap to 10% steps — thumb now tracks the mouse continuously
Settings panel no longer resizes based on slider values
Text sizes in main menu pop-up and story mode pop-up fixed

Guard now works. A Guard creature steps in to intercept attacks aimed at the empty lanes beside it, shielding your general instead of letting the hit through.
Background music rotates through multiple tracks now instead of looping the same one.
The War Chest has a lid sound when it opens, and legendaries get their own reveal flourish.
Dragging a card shows a full size ghost that follows your cursor, so you can see exactly what you're holding before you drop it.

The AI got a lot smarter. It reads the board, pushes the enemy general through open lanes, blocks real threats when it's low on health, weighs whether a trade is worth it, and aims removal at the most dangerous creature.
Difficulty actually means something now. Recruit plays loose and forgiving, Veteran presses when it's ahead and turtles when behind, and Warlord stays aggressive and saves removal for the right target.
Dian Wei, Loyal Guard dropped to 3/8 (was 3/11). With Guard working, 11 defense for 2 mana locked down too much of the board.
Cao Ren bumped to 4/12 (was 3/8) so the 5 cost Guard finally feels like a proper anchor.
Packs open quicker, with less waiting between each card.
The main menu has real hierarchy now. Story Mode is featured and brighter while the other modes sit back, so new players know where to look first.
All the menu cards use one label system: a title with a small subtitle in the same spot every time.
Matched up the corner rounding and added a consistent dark fade behind every label, so text stays readable over the art.
The Quit Game button is muted so it no longer shouts over everything else.
The Community buttons (Feedback, Report a Bug, Discord) are bigger and easier to spot.
War Council's Back button matches the red Back buttons used everywhere else.

"Open Another" no longer kicks you back to the menu. It opens the next pack right where you are.
Music no longer cuts out early. Longer tracks play all the way through.
AI opponents can no longer get stuck during the mulligan phase. If a bot stalls there, it wraps up and moves on by itself.

The card glossary can still take a second to open the first time while the card art loads.
Outside the opening tutorial fight, there's no in-battle guidance for brand new players yet.
The AI doesn't always spot the fastest possible kill, for example lethal through direct damage spells.

New guided tutorial for Skirmish at the Crossroads. We pick the Wei deck for you and stack it so your best opening cards show up first.
Nine quick tips walk you through your first match, one mechanic at a time. Skip them whenever you want.
A welcome screen for new players that points you to Story Mode and covers the basics.
You can now drag cards straight onto the battlefield. Grab a card and a full size copy follows your cursor, then drop it on a lane.
More music

Main buttons are now proper bronze plaques.
Council, Warpath, and Missions buttons each wear their faction color.
The Settings gear is jade with a gold trim.
Every deck button is color coded to its faction now, not just the starters.
The faction seal sits behind the lobby title.
Join Duel is green so it reads as go.
Rematch is green, Withdraw is red.
The Battle Chronicle moved up under your name plate where you can actually see it.
Story menus all line up at the same width now.
The chapter fight title matches the fight header font.
Cards make a sound as they pop out of a War Chest pack.

Victory and defeat music actually plays now, and the background track drops so you can hear it.
AI no longer gets stuck on mulligan. If a bot stalls for 10 seconds, it just keeps its hand and moves on.
Drag and drop works. The old version used the wrong kind of event, so it never fired.
Fixed defeat/victory music not playing
Default SFX lowered and Music increased
Added a (Good for new players) next to Wei starter deck
Shortened load time for card glossary

Dropped the deck count from the corner of the battle screen. It was just clutter.

Placing a card is click to grab, click to drop, not a press and hold drag. The card follows your cursor either way.