Card FAQs
So, what even are cards?
I'm glad you asked! Cards are a feature attached to issues that we answer within the game, everytime you answer an issue - there is a chance you may 'pull' a card pack. You don't have to open these straight away, you can open these anytime - the maximum number of packs you can hold at any time unopened is 9. Think of cards like a treasure hunt, we all are looking for the best cards in order to have the best hoard (or deck in this instance). If you answer a whole set of 5 issues, you have a chance of obtaining up to 5 packs - remember packs aren't guaranteed and you can get anything between 0-5 packs per set of 5 issues. Cards are an extra dynamic to the game, you have the WA, you have raiding/defending, roleplay and the newest addition to the game is Cards! Many people play the card 'game' for different reasons, some want to collect them all, some collect certain types of cards, while others look to create collections - common examples include delegates, members of your region etc, however you want to play there is a place for you in our league!
Okay, I'm intrigued! How do you build your decks?
Good question! There are many ways in which people build their decks - and to an extent it depends on goals, some people just look to collect the most valuable legendary cards, some want a certain type of card, it varies. To build your deck, you will need 'bank' - think of bank like the money of the card world. You can get this through selling cards in auctions for one, or junking cards in order to accumulate bank, the amount you accumulate depends on the card rarity which is as follows:
Commons - 0.01 Bank per card
Uncommon - 0.05 Bank per card
Rare - 0.10 Bank per card
Ultra Rare - 0.20 Bank per card
Epic - 0.50 Bank per card
Legendary - 1.00 Bank Per card
Traditionally, people will junk the lower value cards in order to accumulate bank while keeping the higher value cards in order to increase their deck value - deck value is determined by the total market value of cards within your deck. Market value refers to the value at the time of a particular card, which you can check on any card page. For example, an uncommon card with a 'junk' price of 0.05 could actually have a market value of 12.05 bank - so could actually be worth more to your deck than junking it, value does deteriorate over time, however.
Of course, if we just junked cards and relied on luck with packs, we wouldn't always be able to find the cards we want! That is where auctions come in. For example, let's say you wanted to buy Crazy Girl Season 1 and in this scenario let's say there were no bids on it, you would then have a choice to either, place a bid and hope someone takes notice of it, you can also telegram owners of the card by going to it's owners page and telegramming one of them to ask for them to sell it you. Always take notice of the card's market value to allow you to judge what amount of bid to place on a card, though of course, individual owners may have their own price requirements depending on how valuable the card is to them. To carry on with this scenario, let's say you place a bid and someone 'matches' (puts an ask price up for your buy price) it - great! You're on your way to getting that card within 60 minutes. Do, however, be aware it is possible to get outbid - so keep a close eye on the auction if you really want to get the card, more valuable cards will have higher interest so be extra wary when placing bids on those!
The other method to generating bank is, of course, selling cards rather than buying them - sometimes when you open a card pack you will see a marker on it informing that there is a bid on it - this can be an easy way to make some bank if someone is willing to pay big for one of your cards! Again, be wary, you can be 'heisted' which would be when someone steals the sale by either under or over bidding you to snatch the sale. Don't be alarmed though, this happens to everyone, just keep a close eye on important sales! Lastly, when building your deck, remember every nation will have a deck limit - this by default starts at 50 and can be increased by amounts of 50 at a cost of an amount of bank. If you do happen to be a site supporter on your card nation - your capacity is also automatically doubled - for example would be 100 rather than 50.
What are pull events?
Pull events are when a card which would ordinarly have a low chance of being pulled from a card pack will have a much higher chance of being pulled as the pull event organiser, will 'auction' the card being pulled - which therefore drastically increases the chance of it appearing - a great way to get your hands on rare cards! The more packs you open, the more chance you have of pulling the card, though the amount you wish to do is of course completely up to you! Pull events are also very useful if you are wanting to get your hands on a card from a previous season or a 'Ceased to Exist' card - which both have very low chances of appearing without a pull event.
Useful Resources and Links
So you're getting involved with cards? Great! Some useful links are attached below.
1. The Comprehensive Guide to Nation States Cards - written by Destructive Government Economic System - provides all the info you could ever want to know about NS Cards, includes guides to mechanics as well as scripts and tools. Remember using the tools and scripts is at your own risk.
2. NationStates Cards Discord Server - This is the NationStates Cards discord server, talk to your fellow card collectors here, as well as keep your eye on any sales. Remember to follow rules and instructions from any discord staff.
Glossary of Useful Terms
Below are a list of useful terms to help you if you are new to the card game.
Season - The season of which a particular card is from. For example some cards may have been present for just Season 1 or 2, some may have cards for both seasons.
Rarity - The rarity of a particular card, for example 'rare' or 'uncommon'.
Auction - When a 60 minute countdown begins in which a card is up for sale when bids have been matched.
Snipe - When someone outbids you on an auction.
Bank - The 'currency' in the card game, needed to buy and gift cards.
Heist - When completing a bank transfer and someone heists the amount of bank you were transferring.
Bank Transfer - A transfer done between your own nation(s) to allow you to move bank between nations.
Transfer Card - A card that someone uses to complete bank transfers on, a common tell of a transfer card would be multiple trades within a short time between the same nations, and it would normally have significantly higher than expected market value.
Ask - When an ask is placed on a card - think of it as a 'sale price'.
Card Farm - A group of nations owned by the same player for the purposes of acquiring cards faster through answer issues across them.
Don't be afraid to ask questions below!