Ring of Fire Is Live - Mini-Set Overview & Patch Notes

Hello, Commanders!

The Ring of Fire has erupted.

Ring of Fire, the 2026 Fall mini-set for KARDS, is now live, bringing 30 new collectible cards to the Oceania Storm set.

Reinforcements have arrived across every nation, with ANZAC receiving the largest deployment. New tools are entering the battlefield, existing strategies are being pushed in new directions, and the ground beneath Oceania Storm is shifting once again.

The tremors we've been tracking throughout spoiler season have finally broken the surface. The weather may still be changing overhead, but now the battlefield below is changing with it.

It's time to see what the new arrivals can do.

https://youtu.be/LFUM_gEdW1k

Ring of Fire at a Glance

Here's everything deploying with the Ring of Fire update:

• 30 brand new collectible cards
• 20 cards for the main nations - Britain, Germany, Japan, the Soviet Union and the USA each receive 4
• 10 cards for the ally (minor) nations - ANZAC receives 6, while France, Finland, Italy and Poland each receive 1
• Ring of Fire joins the Oceania Storm card set - new cards enter the Oceania Storm pool and appear in Oceania Storm packs
• No card rotation with this release
• Card balance changes
• Bug fixes and general improvements

Read on for the full details.

Reinforcements for Oceania Storm

Ring of Fire is a reinforcement mini-set for Oceania Storm, expanding on the set's themes. This means that:

• Ring of Fire cards are in the Oceania Storm card pool
• Ring of Fire cards drop in Oceania Storm packs from launch onward
• Ring of Fire cards rotate with Oceania Storm, as part of the same card set

No Rotation with Ring of Fire

Ring of Fire does not come with a card rotation. No cards are moving into the Reserve pool with this release.

Under the annual rotation system introduced with Oceania Storm, set-based rotation will take place once per year alongside the Winter expansion.

The Forces of Ring of Fire

Every nation receives reinforcements in Ring of Fire, building on the archetypes introduced with Oceania Storm while pushing some of them in new directions.

Britain

Britain doubles down on orders that didn't start in your deck, with new tools to Develop, discount and dig them out at speed.

Britain fought a war spread across the globe, holding a vast network together through communication, improvisation and determination.

During the Blitz, the Police Auxiliary Messengers - women and boys under eighteen, known universally as the PAMs - carried dispatches through blacked-out streets when telephone lines failed. At Gibraltar, an already formidable tunnel network was expanded deep into the Rock. Under the secret Operation Tracer, a team of six stood ready to be sealed inside if Gibraltar fell, observing and reporting on enemy movements from within. And in Burma, battalions of the Royal West African Frontier Force crossed jungle-covered mountains to converge on Myohaung and force the Japanese from the Mayu Peninsula.

Britain's new reinforcements draw on that same combination of communication, improvisation, and persistence. In play, they keep the wider machine moving: Developing new orders, cutting their cost, and getting them into the right hands at the right time.

Germany

Germany continues to reward repeated operation and battle-hardened troops, building on the value of units that stay in the fight and grow more effective through experience.

Germany's early victories relied on speed, coordination, and concentrated force. As the war became a prolonged struggle of attrition, surviving formations carried years of experience into defensive battles they could no longer properly reinforce or resupply.

Experience became a resource of its own.

The 18th Infantry Division mobilized in August 1939, and survivors were still fighting in the ruins of Berlin in May 1945. The 5th Panzer Division reached within 34 kilometers of Moscow before being thrown back, then spent years fighting defensively. German armored formations also employed the Panzerkeil - the tank wedge - with heavier armor concentrated at the point while lighter vehicles supported the flanks.

Panther tanks carried visible signs of adaptation as well. Applying Zimmerit to a Panther could require around 160 kilograms of paste, troweled onto the armor and textured into ridges to reduce the grip of magnetic mines.

The new German cards continue that tradition: keep your veterans operating, keep them fighting, and make every surviving unit count.

Japan

Japan pushes its sacrifice-for-impact identity further than ever, turning units and resources into immediate effects and asking how much you're willing to spend to seize a decisive moment.

Japan's war stretched across distances its shipping and industry could not sustain. As losses mounted and resources dwindled, Japanese strategy increasingly committed troops, aircraft, and long-term capacity in pursuit of immediate results.

As the war raged on, calculations narrowed toward the same question: what could be spent to buy one more decisive moment?

When conventional anti-tank weapons could not stop Allied armor, Japanese infantry sometimes closed in with satchel charges, accepting extraordinary danger for the chance to disable a vehicle at close range. The 7th Division - the Bear Division, one of the Imperial Army's oldest formations - spent much of the war preparing positions in Hokkaido, while its reconnaissance regiment served a vital role as its eyes and ears.

By the summer of 1945, that arithmetic extended across the Home Islands. Operation Ketsugō prepared kamikaze aircraft, miniature submarines, and manned torpedoes for the defense of southern Kyūshū, while plans called for millions of civilians to be mobilized through the Volunteer Fighting Corps.

Above them, the Mitsubishi J2M Raiden - Lightning Bolt - was still in combat on the morning of August 15, only hours before Japan announced its surrender.

Ring of Fire draws on those increasingly severe choices: spend lasting resources for immediate power, and decide whether one decisive moment is worth the cost.

The Soviet Union

The Soviet Union expands its Veteran and token-generation toolkit, finding new ways to turn battlefield losses into lasting value.

Soviet warfare was built on scale and on the ability to absorb losses.

Divisions were raised, destroyed and raised again. Equipment was assembled from whatever was available. Ground could be traded for time, while the terrain itself became as formidable an obstacle as the enemy.

The 41st Rifle Division was destroyed near Kiev in September 1941, rebuilt the following March, wiped out again at Izyum two months later, and formed a third time that October. Its third incarnation fought at Kursk, crossed Belarus and Poland, and finished at Berlin.

Elsewhere, the 31st Rifle Division recovered from heavy losses in the Caucasus, crossed the Dnieper, and later joined the Vistula–Oder Offensive before fighting in the final offensives at Berlin and Prague. BM-13 rocket launchers were mounted on whatever could carry them, including STZ-5 tractors from the Stalingrad factory.

Each spring and autumn, the rasputitsa could turn roads and open ground into deep mud, bogging down trucks, guns, and tanks without much caring whose they were.

The new Soviet reinforcements turn that willingness to absorb losses into another source of strength, with units that can leave something behind even after they've done their part.

The United States

The United States leans into massed infantry and coordinated air power, bringing more weight to the battlefield while rewarding forces that work together.

American strength was industrial before it was tactical. Regiments were raised, equipped and reinforced to a common pattern, then shipped wherever they were needed.

The 1st Infantry Regiment trained in Hawaii before reaching New Guinea in early 1944. It earned a Presidential Unit Citation at Maffin Bay, then landed at Lingayen Gulf in January 1945 as the campaign to retake Luzon began.

The 116th Infantry Regiment, a Virginia National Guard unit, led the assault on the western sector of Omaha Beach, where it took heavy losses in the first waves. Those who made it off the beach pushed inland and kept going until they reached the Elbe.

Above them, American air power expanded on an unprecedented scale. The USAAF grew from a modest air corps into a force of 2.4 million personnel and nearly 80,000 aircraft, fighting across Europe and the Pacific simultaneously.

Ring of Fire brings that combination of mass on the ground and power in the air to the forefront, giving American forces new ways to turn numbers into coordinated strength.

ANZAC

ANZAC takes the largest share of Ring of Fire with 6 new cards, pushing its hand-position and empty-hand identity to its sharpest form yet.

Australian and New Zealand forces fought across radically different battlefields - from the mountains of Greece and the Western Desert to the jungles of Papua - often at the far end of supply lines stretching halfway around the world.

What traveled with them was a reputation for fighting light, improvising when circumstances demanded it, and getting more from a position than the numbers suggested should be possible.

During the Second World War, the ANZAC name returned as an official corps designation for only a matter of weeks. On April 12, 1941, Australian I Corps was renamed ANZAC Corps in Greece under Lieutenant General Blamey, uniting the 2nd New Zealand Division with Australian formations under his command.

The partnership would outlast the paperwork.

At Milne Bay in August 1942, Militia battalions of the 7th Brigade held the line against a Japanese landing aimed at the newly built airfields. As the fighting intensified, the 18th Brigade counterattacked, while RAAF Kittyhawks struck across the beaches. Japan suffered its first full-scale land defeat of the Pacific War.

Behind the front, engineers carved forward bases from the coastline so aircraft and supplies could reach the battlefield. Gunners broke 3.7-inch howitzers into eight loads so they could be carried up slopes that wheeled artillery struggled to reach.

Ring of Fire gives ANZAC six new tools to push its distinctive hand-based strategies further, rewarding commanders who know exactly what to hold onto - and when to go in with nothing left in hand.

Ally Nations

France, Finland, Italy and Poland each receive one new card, tailored to their established identities.

These were forces often fighting on someone else's terms - cut off from home, badly outnumbered, or holding ground they already knew might have to be abandoned. Yet each found ways to make the most of what they had.

In September 1940, Henri Sautot arrived at Nouméa under the protection of the Australian cruiser HMAS Adelaide and declared New Caledonia for Free France, securing a Pacific base the Allies would come to depend upon.

During the Winter War, Finnish ski troops used speed, white camouflage, and intimate knowledge of the forests to cut road-bound Soviet columns into isolated motti pockets that could be attacked piece by piece.

Italy's 4th Alpini Regiment entered the war with its Ivrea, Aosta, and Intra battalions, formations shaped by service in the mountains. The regiment later re-formed the specialist Monte Cervino Skiers Battalion, which was sent to the Eastern Front and destroyed during Operation Little Saturn in the winter of 1942–43.

On September 1, 1939, the 28th Kaniów Rifle Regiment took its place in the 10th Infantry Division's defenses along the upper Warta. Under assault by the German Eighth Army, the division held until the order came to withdraw on September 3.

Four nations, four new cards, and four different ways of turning limited resources into an advantage.

Special Shop Offers

The reinforcements are here. Make sure you're equipped.

Head to the Shop to check out the Ring of Fire launch bundles, featuring card packs and unique cosmetics inspired by the horseshoe-shaped belt of volcanic activity that encircles the Pacific.

Whether you're looking to bolster your collection or bring some new style to the battlefield, there's no better time to join the deployment.

Card Balance Changes

Alongside Ring of Fire, a set of card balance changes has now deployed. Several weather cards have been reworked, along with a round of nerfs and buffs across the active card pool.

For the full developer breakdown from our Lead Game Designer, see:

Dev Blog - September Balance Patch

You can also find the complete list of changes below.

Nerfs

METEOR

38th INDEPENDENT

COASTWATCHERS

RAAF WALRUS

Z SPECIAL UNIT

THUNDERSTORM

TROPICAL STORM

CYCLONE

SCORCHING SUN

Buffs

STIRLING Mk III

102. GRENADIER

DETAILED RECON

1081st SMOLENSK

P-40 WARHAWK

JUNGLE FEVER

SCORCHING SUN

Bug Fixes

Alongside Ring of Fire and the balance changes, we've deployed a number of bug fixes and general improvements.

We've also changed how 5th RANGERS interacts with cards that trigger based on the operation cost of deployed units, such as LES TERRIBLES. Previously, choosing the 0 operation cost option meant that 5th RANGERS would not trigger those cards. It now does.

Battle

• The "Forecast" ability is no longer blocked until the end of the battle after a player reconnects to the battle before choosing the weather card.
• The 36. KRADSCHÜTZEN unit's ability (“When a friendly German unit moves into the frontline, give it +1 attack and -1 operation cost.”) is no longer activated if its nation is changed while in the battlefield (for example, if an opposing player acquires it using the salvage ability).
• The IMPERIAL DECREE’s ability (“The next damage order you give this turn deals +1 damage.”) now only affects the orders that are dealing damage directly. Previously, cards like JUNGLE WARFARE order could be used to give units the same buff.
• The RAF MUSTANG unit's ability to draw a card is now triggered after it is targeted by the "Choose One" ability card (like for example PLANNED ATTACK).
• J7W3 won't be shown as damaged anymore after it gains any +1+1 buff.
• The MAGNIFICENT SEVENTH unit ability (“When this unit attacks, the top unit of your deck gets +1+1.”) will not trigger anymore if there are no cards left in the deck.
• 2nd MICHIGAN is no longer able to use its ability to gain kredits after it has been suppressed.
• The damage dealt to the enemy HQ by the PANTHER D unit ability is now reduced to 1 after the NATIONAL FIRE SERVICE countermeasure is triggered.
• The cost of the right-most GUERILLA WARFARE SCHOOL order is no longer increased by 1 after the "Forecast" ability is used.
• If The 182. LANDWEHR unit is suppressed, it no longer becomes a veteran even if units in the battlefield are operated three times.
• The 16th TARNOW REGIMENT unit ability is not triggered anymore after the CRUISER SCOUTS order is used when 1+ kredits are left.
• When The 392nd RIFLES ability gives any unit +2 attack buff, the boost will be now removed from the unit if they are returned to the hand from the battlefield after a countermeasure card is triggered (like with AIRSTRIKE).
• B-26 MARAUDERS ability ("Your non-targeting deployment effects trigger twice.") was not previously triggered for any of the units with the ability "Deployment: Choose a card in hand" (like for example, 10th RECON). Fix now ensures that the deployment effect happens twice.
• WOLFHOUNDS unit's ability to get +1+1 no longer triggers after the player converts any of their friendly units on the battlefield.
• The cards in hand and on the battlefield no longer overlap each other after the MONSOON RAIN order is used.
• Emotes are no longer displayed for either player during battle after communications have been cut.

UI

• Gold cards are now correctly changing their position in the deck when using the filter to set them either on the top or bottom of the deck.
• The deck selection screen is now displayed correctly after accepting a friend challenge from the Daily Login rewards screen.
• The text is no longer causing an overlap with the images when enabling the filter for gold cards in any language.
• Previously, the space bar could incorrectly open the different menu screens after being pressed. Now the "Space" key has been disabled on the keyboard when browsing the menus.
• All successful purchases are now displaying a "Purchase successful" notification. Previously, this notification was sometimes missing.
• When the Weekly Crate is in the ready-to-be-claimed state, the rarity of the crate won’t update visually by earning additional crate points. Any excess points received during this time will be moved over to the next week's crate.

In addition to the fixes listed above, several behind-the-scenes improvements have been deployed to ensure smoother operations across the battlefield.

The ground has moved. The reinforcements have landed. And the strategies of Oceania Storm are about to face a new test.

Ring of Fire is live.

See you on the battlefield, Commanders!