Duel for Cardia Strategy Card Game

About this product

Sometimes winning the card is only half the plan. The right loss can be even more powerful.

A tactical two player card game from Hans im Glück.

Choose your cards in secret, balance influence against powerful abilities and race to claim five Signets.

Product Description

The magical city of Cardia was founded by a young adventurer and a mighty Djinn. Now four factions compete for influence over its future: the Rebellion, the Academy, the Guild and the Dynasty.

In Duel for Cardia, two players face off using identical sets of character cards. Each card has an influence value, an ability and a connection to one of Cardia's four factions.

Every round, both players secretly choose a card and reveal them at the same time. The card with the higher influence wins the encounter and receives a Signet. But there is a twist: the lower influence card activates its ability.

That creates a clever decision every round. Playing your strongest card may secure a Signet, while deliberately losing an encounter can trigger an ability capable of changing earlier results, modifying influence or shifting the balance of the duel.

Played cards remain on the table, so earlier encounters can continue to matter. Signets may even move from one side to the other as abilities alter cards that were played several rounds ago.

The first player to finish a round with five or more Signets wins. Once you are comfortable with the basic game, a second set of character abilities and eight Location cards can be introduced to increase the challenge and create new combinations.

Why you’ll love it

• Winning and losing both matter: Higher influence earns the Signet, while the losing card activates its ability.
• Simultaneous card play: Both players choose secretly before revealing their cards together.
• Tactical timing: Decide whether an encounter is worth winning or whether activating a particular ability could be more valuable.
• Past encounters stay important: Abilities can affect cards already on the table and may change which player controls a Signet.
• Two ability types: Instant abilities resolve immediately, while Ongoing abilities can continue influencing the duel.
• Four competing factions: Character cards belong to the Rebellion, Academy, Guild or Dynasty.
• Adjustable challenge: Introduce Deck II and Location cards once you know the basic game.
• Multiple combinations to explore: Decks and Locations can be combined in different ways while keeping both players' decks identical.

Quick Details

• Publisher: Hans im Glück
• Designers: Mathieu Rivero and Faouzi Boughida
• Product type: Tactical strategy card game
• Players: 2 or 4 players
• Playing time: Approximately 15 minutes per duel
• Game modes: Two player duel or official four player match up variants
• Four player options: Short Match Up and Big Match Up tournament
• Recommended age: 9 years and older
• Factions: Rebellion, Academy, Guild and Dynasty
• Starting hand: 5 cards per player
• Card influence: Each player deck contains values from 1 to 16
• Objective: Finish a round with 5 or more Signets or meet another game winning condition created by a card ability
• Advanced options: Deck II and 8 Location cards
• Contents: 64 Character cards, 4 Summary cards, 8 Location cards, 12 Signets, 6 Ongoing tokens and 22 Modifiers

Good to Know

• Two or four players: Duel for Cardia is designed for head to head play, with official variants provided for four players. There is no three player mode in the supplied rules.
• Winning and losing both matter: The card with the higher influence wins the encounter and gains a Signet, while the lower card activates its ability. Sometimes losing an encounter can be part of the strategy.
• Ties work differently: If both cards have the same influence, neither card gains a Signet and no card ability is activated for that encounter.
• Played cards remain important: Cards stay in play after their encounter, and later abilities can change their influence or even alter who controls a previously won Signet.
• Deck II adds a greater challenge: Once you know the basic game, you can switch from Deck I to Deck II for a more tactically demanding set of abilities.
• Location cards add variety: The 8 Location cards introduce rules that apply throughout the game and can be combined with either deck to adjust the difficulty.
• Optional best of three: For a longer match, the rulebook recommends playing until one player has won two games.
• Four player Short Match Up: Two duels are played at the same time. Players use Deck I and Deck II, then swap decks for the following match.
• Four player Big Match Up: Experienced players can use the tournament format, playing a total of six duels so that everyone faces each other twice and earns points according to the difficulty of each duel.
• Four player games use the same core duel rules: The four player variants expand the match structure rather than turning Cardia into one four way battle