Faction Duel — free online Card game
Five powers, three nights, two star seals. Win the pact.
Faction Duel is a free online card battle game set in an original world. Five powers meet on the Oathfield for the Pact of Three Nights: build strength across three lines, pass at the right moment and win two nights out of three. Each faction has its own ability, and sky events, war banners and starfall can swing any night. Free in your browser, no download, no sign-up.
The Pact of Three Nights
Once every ninety-nine years the Sundered Crown, a comet with a split tail, crosses the sky, and for three nights it rains starshards onto the Oathfield: a wide grass plain where five borders meet. A single shard can light a city for a generation. A cartful can arm a kingdom.
The last time the comet came, the five powers fought over the shards for eleven years. They still call it the Ash Decade: half the old forest burned, the Frostsea froze over twice, and the ground beneath the plain split open into the Abyss. When the fighting finally stopped, the five rulers met in the middle of the Oathfield and swore the Pact of Three Nights.
The pact is simple. When the comet returns, each power sends one army and no more. Each army carries two star seals, glass spheres cut from the last shard of the previous comet. On each of the three nights the armies take the field in three lines, vanguard, archers and engines, and when both commanders sound the withdrawal, the side with the greater strength wins the night. Lose a night and one of your seals shatters. Lose both and your claim is gone for ninety-nine years.
The comet does not care about the pact. Its light bends the sky over the plain: a cold wave can freeze a vanguard in place, a sandstorm blinds the archers, a thunderstorm grounds the engines. Commanders bring banners, stand-ins and infiltrators of their own, and a few bring something worse, a shard of starfall that can be called down on an enemy line. Only the legends, champions who swore the pact in person, stand untouched by all of it.
This year the comet is back. The Iron Crown has marched down from the highlands, the Sunfire Empire across the desert, the Greenwood Rangers out of the old forest, the Abyssal Brood up from the rift and the Frostsea Clans in on the winter tide. You command one of them.
Quick start
- Press Start Game, then pick one of the five factions and an opponent level. Recruit is the gentlest.
- Press Start Tour. Your hand is at the bottom of the table: move with the left and right arrow keys and play a card with Space or the up arrow, or simply click it.
- Cards that need a target, such as War Banner, Stand-in or a revivalist, ask you to click a line or a card.
- When you are ahead, or out of useful cards, pass with the down arrow or D. Press H at any time for a suggested move.
How to play Faction Duel
- Each side starts with ten cards drawn from its faction deck plus the shared tactic cards. Nobody draws between nights unless a card or a faction ability says so, so every card you spend now is a card you will not have later.
- Players take turns playing one card or passing. Once you pass you are out for the rest of the night, and your opponent may keep playing as long as they like.
- Units go to their own line: vanguard, archers or engines. Each unit adds its strength to that line, and your three lines add up to your total.
- When both players have passed, the higher total wins the night and the other side loses a star seal. A tie costs both sides a seal.
- The winner of a night plays first in the next one. Lose both seals and you lose the match, so a match lasts two or three nights.
- The real decision is when to pass. Winning a night by a wide margin wastes cards, and giving up a night while your opponent overspends can win you the match.
The five powers
- Kingdom of the Iron CrownMuster
- A highland kingdom of walls and forges, ruled by Queen Iselle. Its soldiers are not the strongest on the field, but they never run short: at the start of the second and third nights, if you hold fewer cards than your opponent, you draw one.
- The Sunfire EmpireProvisions
- A desert empire of gold armour and sun priests under Emperor Cassius VII. It arrives better supplied than anyone else: you start the match with one extra card.
- The Greenwood RangersCanopy
- Elves of the old forest, hill dwarves and the walking trees, led by Sylva the Treespeaker. They fight from cover: sky events never affect your archer line.
- The Abyssal BroodDevour
- Creatures that crawled out of the rift beneath the plain, gathered by Morgra, Mother of the Deep. What the Brood sends to war comes back: at the end of each night your strongest non-legend unit returns to your hand instead of the discard pile.
- The Frostsea ClansTide
- Seafaring clans of the cold islands, led by Chieftain Hald. They save their best for the last night: when the third night begins, the strongest unit in your discard pile returns to your hand.
Sky events and tactics
- Cold Wave · Sandstorm · ThunderstormSky event
- The base strength of every non-legend unit in the vanguard, archer or engine line respectively is halved, rounded up, on both sides of the field.
- Clear SkiesSky event
- Removes every sky event from the field.
- War BannerTactic
- Plant it on one of your lines: every non-legend unit there gets +3. Only one banner per line.
- StarfallTactic
- Destroys the strongest non-legend unit on your opponent’s side. If several are tied for strongest, all of them are destroyed. It never touches your own units.
- Stand-inTactic
- Swap one of your non-legend units on the field for this card and take the unit back into your hand. Handy for playing an infiltrator or a revivalist a second time.
Unit abilities
- Legend
- Gold-framed champions, two per faction. Never affected by sky events, war banners or starfall.
- Infiltrator
- Played on your opponent’s side of the same line, so its strength counts for them, but you draw two cards.
- Revivalist
- When played, brings one non-legend unit from your discard pile back onto the field.
- Rally
- Every other non-legend unit in the same line gets +1.
- FormationHill Dwarves
- Each copy of the same card in the same line gets +2 for every other copy there. Three Hill Dwarves are worth 8 each.
- FuryStormwave Warriors
- Gets +2 for each copy of the same card already in your discard pile.
The tour
Pick a faction and play five matches in a row, against the Iron Crown, the Sunfire Empire, the Greenwood Rangers, the Abyssal Brood and the Frostsea Clans. A win scores 100 points plus 60 for every star seal you still hold, and a draw scores 40. Finish all five to put your total on the leaderboard.
Opponents come in three levels. Recruits play loosely and miscount, veterans know how to use the sky and save cards, and masters know exactly when to stop.
Controls
- Keyboard: left and right arrows to choose a card, Space or up arrow to play it, down arrow or D to pass, H for a hint, P to pause
- Mouse: click a card in your hand to play it; cards that need a target ask you to click a line or a card
- Gamepad: D-pad to choose, A to play, B to pass, X for a hint, Start to pause
Frequently asked questions
Is Faction Duel free?
Yes. It is free to play in your browser with no download and no sign-up.
Does winning a night by a lot help?
No. A night is simply won or lost; the margin does not carry over, and every card you spend is gone for the nights that follow.
What happens on a tie?
Both sides lose a star seal. No faction wins ties.
What language is the game in?
You are playing it in English. The game is also available in Simplified and Traditional Chinese and always follows the language of the page.