Overview

Version 1.1.0 is the biggest content drop for Counter Tactics ever! And it's almost all centered around dragons. Before, there was 3 dragons and now there is 15! Look to the skies and determine how you are going to counter this winged onslaught!

Bug fixes and miscellaneous updates are listed below all the new tokens.

New Tokens

Instinct (Wild)

• Wild Berries (A)
  Common | Action | Cost: 1
  "Target pawn gets +0/+3."
• Skyborn Baby Dragon (2/2)
  Common | Pawn | Cost: 2
  "Flyer. Spawn: deal 1 damage to target pawn or Champion."
• Emberborn Dragon (5/3)
  Common | Pawn | Cost: 4
  "Flyer. Activate (2): Receive a Fireball."
• Skyborn Dragon (3/3)
  Common | Pawn | Cost: 4
  "Flyer. Spawn: Skyborn Dragon enters the battlefield flying. Activate (1): Skyborn Dragon is flying."
• Earth‑Wrought Dragon (4/4)
  Common | Pawn | Cost: 4
  Flyer. Activate (2): Earth-Wrought Dragon gets +1/+1."
• Colossal Dragon (8/8)
  Uncommon | Pawn | Cost: 9
  "Flyer. Capture: Colossal Dragon gets +3/+3."
• Dragon’s Breath (A)
  Rare | Action | Cost: 0
  "Deal 1 Core Damage to target pawn. If you have a dragon in play, deal an additional 1 Core Damage and draw a Token."
• Night Reaver (4/4)
  Rare | Pawn | Cost: 5
  "Flyer and Haste. Aura: dragons you spawn have Haste."
• Aerynthra, Mother of Dragons (1/6)
  Rare | Champion | Cost: 6
  "Flyer and Champion. Aura: when you spawn other dragons, Aerynthra, Mother of Dragons, gets +1/+1."
• Rhaak'drath, The Infinite Inferno (6/10)
  Legendary | Pawn | Cost: 9
  "Flyer. Shuffle hand into Battle Stack. For each token shuffled, receive a Dragon's Breath."

Influence

• Greedy Dragon (2/2)
  Common | Pawn | Cost: 3
  "Flyer. Spawn: Increase Arcane Shard capacity by 1. If maxed, draw a token."

Discipline (Skilled)

• Armored Dragon (6/6/4)
  Uncommon | Pawn | Cost: 7
  "Flyer and Guard 2."

Supernatural

• Dragon Illusion (5/5)
  Common | Pawn | Cost: 7
  "Flyer, Mystic Touch and Veil."
• Bone Dragon (4/4)
  Uncommon | Pawn | Cost: 4
  "Flyer. Final Act: Shuffle a Bone Dragon into controller's Battle Stack and give it +3/+3."

📌 Miscellaneous

• Replaced all the art for activation abilities that various pawns have.
• You can now tap-and-hold related tokens. For example, the Estarrian Swordbearer gives you an Estarrian Broadsword. While examining the Estarrian Swordbearer, you can easily zoom in on the Estarrian Broadsword to get more info.

🛠️ Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where the opponent's primary champion is facing the wrong direction after an online match starts.
• Fixed an issue where a zero-cost token did not show the zero when examining it.

📖 Content Updates

• Update to "Forceful Gale" description: "owner's Battle Stack" -> "controller's Battle Stack".

📌 Miscellaneous

• Improved the AI including speeding it up.
• Improved the "minimum version" workflow: added link to app store to update app.
• Improved offline experience. E.g., addressed some infinite loading spinners.

🛠️ Maintenance

• Hardened authentication logic and improved error handling.

🛠️ Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where the app said "Your account has been disabled by an administrator" when the user had connectivity issues.
• Fixed various issues in Tutorial I where a user could get into a stuck state.
• Fixed an issue where modifying a Battle Stack created a duplicate of the Battle Stack.
• Fixed authentication issues when playing app on a Mac.
• Fixed an issue where a token could get stuck and become unavailable if dragging it while an ability, like guard, was doing its animation.
• Fixed an issue where tokens in the shop were missing their backgrounds.
• Fixed several issues with the action "Forceful Gale". For example...
  • Flyers kept flying.
  • Resting pawns were still in resting state.
  • Pawns with closeup animations retriggered their closeup animations.
  • Pawns with auras, like the Goliath Bat or Arcane Wizard, still had active auras while in the Battle Stack.
  • Charmed pawns were shuffled into the wrong Battle Stack.

📌 Miscellaneous

• No code changes, bump in version is to update App Store assets. Specifically, adding the App Preview.

🛠️ Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where the Profile page would get stuck loading infinitely.

📌 Miscellaneous

• Maintenance on the leaderboard.

📌 Miscellaneous

• Removed the Promo Code feature from the Side Menu and Shop.
  • We'll bring this back eventually, but it needs to be reworked.

🚀 New Tokens

Influence Order Tokens

• Common Action: Workman's Scythe

Discipline Order Tokens

• Uncommon Pawn: Battle Balloon

Supernatural Order Tokens

• Uncommon Action: Forceful Gale
• Rare Pawn: Seraph of the Greenwind

📖 New Content

• New Maps: Base Camp, Dunes Day Frozen Mines and Attack on Helmsworth.
• New Animations: Desperate Times and Crushing Boulder.
• New SFX: Desperate Times

🛠️ Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where Tutorial I could trigger the card layout breakdown walkthrough for a non-champion pawn, displaying conflicting information.
• Fixed an issue where tapping Arthur didn't initiate conversation with him when you first entered the Bags Scene, requiring players to have to enter and exit the Crystal Exchange.
• Fixed an issue where the "impact" sound overlapped when two pawns attacked eachother.

🛠️ Maintenance

• Updated underlying asset housing.
• Improved resiliency of AI logic.

📌 Miscellaneous

• Updated Rusty's dialogue in Tutorial III.
• Updated the Mountain tiles on the Sand Valley map to look more desert like.
• Added animations and SFX for Desperate Times and Crushing Boulder.
• Added SFX for Misfortune.
• Added SFX and modified animation for Charm.
• Added a workflow for rating the app after a PVP victory.
• Overhaul of the What's New page.

📌 Miscellaneous

• Added Privacy Policy link to Settings screen.
• Updated Terms of Use link to point to new Silverline Sky Studios site.

🚀 New Features

Solo Adventures

This new section will be the home for all single‑player content. It currently includes Training and several tutorials, with more content planned for future updates.

⚖️ Balance Updates

• Goliath Bat: 10/10 → 8/8 The Goliath Bat was too strong for a common token, especially for new players. Reducing its stats brings it in line with other early‑game options.

🛠️ Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where the app could crash when purchasing a background from the shop.

📌 Miscellaneous

• Updated Terms of Use and added a link from the Settings screen.
• Adjusted Home screen buttons to make room for Solo Adventures.
• Updated title screen “Tap” arrow positioning.
• Updated dialogue content and retired outdated scripts.
• Updated requirements for Friendly battle invitations.
• Removed the Guile order from My Collection until tokens exist for that order.
• Moved Demos into the Tutorials section.

🎮 Usability Enhancements

• Instead of dragging, you can now do all pawn actions by tapping. For example, you can tap your pawn on the map and tap an enemy pawn to initiate an attack.

🛠️ Bug Fixes

• Fixed a typo in the Demo I script.
• Fixed an issue that sometimes caused the script to trigger while the AI was taking its turn during the demo levels.
• Fixed an issue where the Misfortune animation didn't trigger on replays.

🚀 New Features

Purchasing Crystals

You can now use real money to purchase crystals from the shop.

Personalization Items in the Shop

You can now purchase new Avatars and Backgrounds from the shop for even more customization to your profile.

Friendly Live Battles

On the Battle Setup screen, select the "Friendly" mode and check "Live?" to start a Live Battle. During Live Battles, you stay in the battle even after you end your turn and you see your opponent's moves as they happen. A "desync" issue may occur. There are several scenarios that can trigger this. When a "desync" happens, you will be taken back to the home screen. You can rejoin the battle as soon as it is officially your turn again.

💰 Economy Balance

• Reduced the frequency of getting free bags.
• Updated gold / crystals earned for starting and completing battles.

📌 Miscellaneous

• Your current gold/crystals is now visible as you scroll through the shop.
• Slight adjustment to scrolling speed.
• Shop was polished to appear better on various device resolutions.
• When you open the shop, it scrolls to the top briefly to help users know that the shop is scrollable.
• With the addition of Live Battles, all modes now save progress as you make moves on your turn. You can no longer exit a battle to undo your moves.
• Updated the exit battle message content.
• Updated the descriptions of "Turn the Tide" and "Summon Forth" tokens.
• You can navigate to the Profile screen from the Battle screen by tapping on a player's profile picture.
• NPCs like Rusty now show a biography on their screen if you visit their profiles from the battle screen.
• Maximum number of active battles set to 30.
• Changed art for "Brother Silvey" pawns and "Arcane Spellbinder". Added logic for "variant art".
• Copyright updated.

🎮 Usability Enhancements

• Highlight spawn points when dragging a pawn from the player's hand, provided they have enough Arcane Shards.
• Show a guiding arrow indicating where a player is going to move or attack.
• The guiding arrow changes color depending on the action:
  • Move (green)
  • Swap positions (cyan)
  • Fly (cyan)
  • Attack (red)
  • One‑sided attack (purple)
• Allow a player to drag a pawn already on the map past a location that pawn can move, now that the guiding arrow shows the destination.
• When dragging, the token is “lifted” off the screen with a drop shadow. The shadow now acts as the pointer for where the player will move, attack, or play an Action.
• Haptics occur when dragging a token across the map to help the player feel when they’ve moved from one tile to the next.
• Visual improvements to tokens in hand that cannot be played due to insufficient Arcane Shards.
• The map is highlighted for Actions that don’t target pawns or tiles, helping the player know where to drag the Action.

🛠️ Bug Fixes

• Fixed visual and audio issues that occurred when repeatedly interacting with a collected, face‑down token during its reveal animation.
• Fixed an issue where players could collect multiple copies of a token purchased from the shop.
• Fixed an issue where new players briefly saw an error when first downloading the game.
• Fixed the issue where the Ravenous Wolk in Demo II did not actually have its “Dash” ability.
• Fixed the issue where music and sound effects were not enabled by default on a new install.
• Fixed the issue where pawns were facing the wrong direction on the reward screen, collection screen, and shop screen.
• Fixed the issue where using Rage before Ennoblement permanently kept the effects of Rage beyond the end of the player’s turn.
• Fixed the issue where closing the reward screen too quickly after a Ranked Battle failed to increase the player’s Fame (leaderboard points).
• Fixed the issue where dragging a token on the Battle screen while a modal was present caused a dimmed black screen.
• Fixed several issues related to the Action “Ennoblement.”
• Fixed the issue where interacting with the Game Center notification of a Friendly Battle caused Spawn Points to be assigned to the wrong players.
• Fixed the issue where Spawn Point flags were often in the wrong position during online battles and replays.
• Fixed the issue where a flyer that had just started flying in a replay would continue looping its fly animation extremely fast after fast‑forward concluded.
• Fixed the issue where interacting with tokens during the AI’s turn caused chaotic behavior.

🚀 New Tokens

Instinct Order Tokens (Green)

• Common Pawn: Blue‑Furred Bat
• Common Pawn: Goliath Bat
• Uncommon Pawn: Albino Slumber Bat
• Uncommon Pawn: Cliff Diver Dragon
• Uncommon Pawn: Skybane Dragon
• Rare Pawn: Zephyr Drake

⚖️ Balance Updates

• Common Courier: Dash → Dash AND Flyer This version introduces six new pawns with the Flyer mechanic, all in the Instinct order (green). The Common Courier is an Influence order (gray) pawn, meaning it can go into any Battle Stack to help counter the influx of flyers.

• Deadly Salvo: Destroy a pawn with Dash → Destroy a pawn with Dash OR Flyer Another update to help balance against the new flyers. This affects the Skilled order (red). Mystic (purple) already has strong anti‑flyer tools (Banshee, Suppress), so no changes were needed there.

🚀 New Features

The Crystal Exchange

You can now trade in all of your extra tokens to Arthur in exchange for crystals. This feature is located in the Bags section under Arthur’s Appraisals.

• You cannot trade in tokens you might actually use. A Battle Stack caps at 3 copies of any token (1 for legendaries/specials). Anything above that is considered “extra.”
• Currently, you cannot trade in a single token — the Crystal Exchange processes your entire collection at once.

Demo Intros

Two new demo scenarios are available from the tavern scene. These scripted scenarios are an easy way for new players to learn the basics and quickly experience the game.

🆕 New Mechanics

Flyers

Flyers can move over mountains and water — the first pawns able to do so.

• Flyers are not always flying. They only begin flying when moving over mountains or water.
• While flying, they gain an advantage in battle.
• If they lose the ability to fly while flying, they are destroyed.

🛠️ Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where new matches wouldn’t match with anyone right after a new season started.
• Fixed an issue where the “fast forward” sound effect played even when the option wasn’t pressed in multiplayer matches.
• Fixed an issue where playing multiple Mirror Mages in a single turn in multiplayer matches would break the replay… again.
• Fixed an issue where champions that start on forts (e.g., Sand Valley) in online matches were losing the buff the fort provides.

📌 Miscellaneous

• The Bags section UI was completely overhauled.
• Music and sound effects are now ambient and will not interrupt audio from other apps.
• A chat sound effect now plays when NPCs are talking.
• Several updates to better support visuals on iPad: leaderboard, tavern scene, headers, logo screen, and reward workflows.
• Improved error handling for Game Center authentication.
• New sound effects for collecting an Arcane Shard and when a pawn’s ability triggers.
• Ability‑triggered particle effects no longer occur on base mechanics (e.g., Mystic Touch alone will not trigger particles).
• AI adjustments:
  • AI now de‑prioritizes choosing to do nothing.
  • AI now encourages pawns with “capture” to actually capture spawn points.
• Pawns that received visual makeovers: Goblin Bell‑Ringer, Goblin Raging‑Fighter, Wymond the Humble, Gybs of Graywood, and Esmeralda.
• Added new full‑body characters to support the new demo scenarios.

🚀 New Features

Seasons

Seasons start and end on different dates. When a season begins, your Fame may drop. When a season ends, if you achieved a personal record, your Best Fame will be updated on your profile.

Because Fame resets at the start of a season, players are more likely to match with each other. More features will be added to the season system in future updates.

Fame is your score on the leaderboard and determines your Tier on the Battle Setup screen. As you move up tiers, you stop matching with players in lower tiers.

🚀 New Tokens

Supernatural Order Tokens

• Uncommon Pawn: Arcane Spellbinder

🛠️ Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where entering a valid promo code sometimes crashed the app.
• Fixed an issue where you could add more than one instance of a Legendary token to your Battle Stack.
• Fixed an issue where spaces could not be used in Battle Stack names.
• Fixed an issue where continuing a battle from the Home screen didn’t play the opponent who had been waiting the longest. This occurred when multiple opponents had queued turns.
• Fixed an issue where continuing a battle from the Home screen would enter a battle you already played.
• Fixed an issue where it appeared that a newly received token could be played

🚀 New Features

• You can now enter Promo Codes to receive free rewards.

🛠️ Bug Fixes

• Fixed a typo in the Trainer’s Battle Stack “Littlefolk of Golgon” difficulty level (Nomal → Normal).
• Fixed an issue where Avatars and Backgrounds were not loading.
• Fixed an issue where the Terms of Service link was not working.
• Fixed an issue where player display names appeared above overlays for animations such as “The Long Night,” “Arctic Blast,” and “Misfortune.”
• Fixed an issue where the Fast Forward button remained visible after watching a replay that had already concluded.
• Fixed an issue where using Ennoblement after capturing a spawn point caused the replay to show the spawn point as uncaptured.
• Fixed an issue where loading the player’s starting hand at the beginning of an online match caused flickering.

📌 Miscellaneous

• Improved the Arctic Blast animation (again).
• Corrected release dates for recent versions in What’s New.
• Updated the website link for the TestFlight app.

⚖️ Balance Updates

• Brother Silvey, Haste Knight: Attack 5 → 4 Core 8 → 5 Armor 5 → 4 Removed Veil This pawn was intentionally overtuned for an older “Landon Mode” used for fun, but the game has since evolved. It remains powerful and legendary, but without Veil, proper removal can now counter it.

🚀 New Features

• You can now fast‑forward through replays — especially helpful during heavy turns in later stages of a battle.

🛠️ Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where a surrendered battle caused the app to crash on the victor’s device.
• Fixed a missing count divider for tokens costing more than 10 on the Collection screen.
• Fixed an issue where the app didn’t indicate whether you were going first or second in a battle.
• Fixed an issue where the app could break after both opponents selected their starting hands — players could load the battle but not take their turn.
• Fixed an issue where players with profiles did not appear on the leaderboard for others.
• Fixed an issue where the player’s starting hand could appear off‑screen when continuing a turn.
• Fixed an issue where avatars and backgrounds in the profile editor sometimes duplicated.
• Fixed an issue where Battle Stacks became misaligned when entering/exiting battles from the Training screen.
• Fixed an issue where long player names were cut off on the Battle and Leaderboard screens.
• Fixed an issue where the OK button on alert modals did not work on Battle, Leaderboard, Training, Settings, and Active Battles screens.

📌 Miscellaneous

• Updated the app icon.
• Game Center notifications now specify which battle the update occurred in by listing the opponent.
• Improved the Arctic Blast animation.
• Updated Catacomb Keeper’s quote.
• Added an animation for the “Misfortune” token.

⚖️ Balance Updates

No balance updates this version.

🚀 New Features

• You can now create an account and customize your profile.
• You can choose your display name, avatar, and background.
• The Profile section is now available, showing stats for Ranked battles.
• From the leaderboard, you can view another player’s profile and statistics by tapping their name.
• Added a new loading indicator.

🛠️ Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where you could save a Battle Stack without a name.
• Fixed an issue where you could determine whether an unrevealed opponent token was a Pawn or an Action.
• Fixed an issue where you could not scroll to the bottom of the friends list for Friendly battles if you had too many friends.

📌 Miscellaneous

• Adjusted font text and colors; updated scroll banners for better readability.
• Added the loading indicator to the Active Battles screen.
• Drafted an initial Terms of Service page (will evolve over time).
• Improved fade‑in/out behavior for certain UI elements.
• Leaderboard entries with 0 Fame no longer appear.
• When doing a practice battle with Rusty, Rusty now appears as the opponent’s profile picture.
• Updated the anonymous image.
• Updated copyright to 2025.

⚖️ Balance Updates

• Starting Arcane Shard Capacity: 0 → 1 Since Arcane Shard capacity no longer increases automatically each turn, the early game could feel slow depending on Champion and map. This small tweak speeds up the opening turns.

🛠️ Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where the Trainer would lock up and not make a move for Battle Stacks containing Ellian the Truth‑Bringer in Practice Mode.
• Fixed an issue where online matches stopped mid‑replay because the opponent actually lost due to Desperation finishing off their Champions.
• Fixed an issue where expired turns (3 days) did not end the match or reward the waiting player.
• Fixed an issue where “Ruby Amulet” applied to a pawn did not show the “Veil” ability when viewing pawn details.
• Fixed an issue where pawns incorrectly displayed “No Abilities” in Practice Mode for certain Battle Stacks.
• Fixed an issue where Rusty giving a token — and the player using it before ending their turn — caused the opponent’s replay to break.
• Fixed an issue where tapping anywhere in Rusty’s dialog box did not work as intended during Battle.

📌 Miscellaneous

• Updated tutorial text for first‑time players to reflect recent mechanical changes.
• Added logic to clean up matches stuck in invalid states.
• Updated activation ability workflow:
  • Non‑Champion activation abilities now work by simply tapping the pawn.
  • Activation cost requirements are now displayed.

🚀 New Tokens

Wild Order Tokens

• Uncommon Action: Desperate Times

Skilled Order Tokens

• Uncommon Action: Summon Forth
• Rare Action: Ennoblement

Influence Tokens

• Common Action: Convenient Clutter

⚖️ Balance Updates

• Ruby Amulet: 7 A.S. → 6 A.S. Powerful but too expensive to justify including in Battle Stacks.

• Catacomb Keeper: 6 A.S. → 7 A.S.; 6 Core → 5 Core Previously one of the strongest Uncommons in the game — toned down to reduce dominance.

• Young Squire: 3 A.S. → 2 A.S.; now starts with 2 Armor Intended as a weak early‑game pawn, but was too weak to see play.

• Trusty Armorsmith: 2 Core → 3 Core; 5 Armor → 3 Armor Too vulnerable at 5 cost; increased Core helps avoid one‑shot removal.

• Goblin Whisperer: Activate 4 → 3 Economy changes made its value harder to access; reduced cost helps.

• Champion Abilities Every Champion now has Augmentation plus a unique ability. Some Champions may be better suited as Secondary Champions depending on their spawn‑related abilities.

🆕 New Mechanics

• Arcane Shard capacity no longer increases automatically at the start of your turn.
• Arcane Shard capacity increases when you capture a spawn point.
• Champions have the Augmentation ability to increase Arcane Shard capacity.
• Desperation Phase begins when a player reaches 12 Arcane Shard capacity.
• During Desperation Phase, if you control fewer spawn points than your opponent at end of turn, all your Champions take 2 Core damage.
• You can no longer win by capturing all of your opponent’s spawn points.

🛠️ Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where Trusty Armorsmith could not use his ability.
• Fixed an issue where Champion token details could not be opened when selecting Champions for a new Battle Stack.

📌 Miscellaneous

• Updated how damage dealt is displayed and felt.
• Redesigned the Launch Screen, Studio Screen, and Title Screen.