Origins TCG playtest patch notes: missions split from ranked, two new locations, faster animations

The playtest catches up with the demo

Koin Games has updated the Demo 2.0 playtest, the separate build you join through the official Discord. "This is our biggest update since 0.6.3", the team writes, and it warns that the build is fresh from development: there will be bugs and placeholder things. Many of the changes, the team adds, had already reached the main demo with the update of 21 September and patch 0.7.

Missions and ranked are split

Missions and bosses are now entirely PvE: you only face bots, and they serve only to unlock decks. They have their own Play button on the Missions screen, so the Play button on the home screen is now only for real matchmaking, which you can use whenever you like.

• You no longer have to finish all the missions before the ranked matchmaker will match you: it tries to find you a suitable opponent every time you play ranked. The team is still working on it.
• In this playtest, deck missions can't be completed from ranked mode. The team will turn that back on in a future build. If you still have decks to unlock, play the missions from the Missions area.
• The reward track spreads the prizes over more missions, and the Missions screen has a deck swap to change your deck.

How ranked works in the demo, and what we know of the ladder, is in our ranked guide.

Deck builder, news feed and Grandmaster

A deck builder with more filters

A new toolbar with more filters. Hovering over a card in the collection shows its keywords. The deck now shows clearly which cards you have two copies of and which only one: new players were struggling with it.

A news feed in the game

The game has its own news feed: if you're reading the notes there, the team writes, you've already seen it.

World rank on the versus screen

Players in the Grandmaster division, the top one, now show their world rank on the versus screen.

Card grading: not yet

The card grading visuals are not in this update, and the "How Grading Works" information you'll find is placeholder: the team asks you to ignore it. It does ask for feedback on the pack opening experience, on Discord.

Speed and audio

Animations and the pauses between them are faster. "This still needs a lot more work", the team writes: speed remains one of its highest priorities. The voices are more professional and better mixed, and there is a separate slider for voice volume.

Card balance: all already on OriginsMeta

The ten balance changes in the notes are the ones the main demo received with the update of 21 September and with patch 0.7: card pages, the deck builder and MetaShifting already use them. Format: mana · Power/Health for characters, mana only for spells.

Cards that change what they do

New in these notes

Five changes don't appear in the demo patch notes of 21 and 29 September:

• En Passant can now target occupied spaces: if the space is occupied, your ally stays put but still deals its damage.
• Stunned is now removed at the end of combat.
• Deathtouch no longer destroys characters with Shield.
• Boitata should behave better, especially when both players have one.
• Reflection has slightly clearer wording; the team admits the card may need some surgery to become more intuitive.

We don't know yet whether they are already in the main demo: we'll check in the game before changing the card pages.

Already in the demo

• Don Quixote has Defender himself, as well as giving it to the enemies at his location (21 September: the demo notes only said he gained Defender).
• Twister Toss can move an ally into an occupied space, and the two swap places (patch 0.7).
• Van Helsing's Tools: Silver Bullet can hit barriers; Wooden Stake can target undamaged characters, but only works if the character is damaged when it resolves (21 September).
• Heroic Charge stacks properly when cast more than once (21 September).
• Spellbook and Humpty can no longer generate themselves as the random card (patch 0.7).
• Characters with Choose One can choose again if they return to your hand, and they keep their stats (21 September, for Frog Prince and Magic Carpet).
• Cards keep their stats in the graveyard: a buffed Mummy comes back with all its Power (21 September).

Locations

Two new, one removed

• Ballroom (new): after combat, for both players, a random character here returns to its owner's hand.
• Tectonic Decay (new): after combat, deal 1 damage to both barriers here.
• Ashen Grove (removed): when you played a character here, you discarded your rightmost card, then drew a card.

The notes compare the playtest with its previous build. Our Locations page, the list of the Demo 2.0 as of 21 September, already has Ballroom and still has Ashen Grove, while Tectonic Decay is not there: we'll update it once we've seen which locations are in the main demo.

Rarity and a tournament pool

Location rarity is now a true rarity, common, rare, very rare or ultra rare, which no longer depends on how many locations exist in the game: the same change the demo got with patch 0.7.

Tournaments now have their own location pool, so locations can be included in or left out of competitions without changing everyday games. The first example is the Crimson Cup: some of the swingiest locations are out of its pool. The team says the full list is in its latest announcement; we'll report it as soon as we've read it.

Update, 7 October: the list came with the Steam post of 5 October: Junkyard, Cloning Lab, Reflecting Pool, Amplifying Amphitheatre, Giant's Beacon, The Colosseum and Nostradamus' Call are out of the Crimson Cup pool (our article).

In this build, room battles (Create/Join Room Battle) use the tournament pool: they're the way to practise with the Crimson Cup locations.

What we don't know yet

• Whether the five new card changes, Tectonic Decay and the removal of Ashen Grove are already in the main demo.
• Which locations are out of the Crimson Cup pool: answered on 5 October, see the update above.
• When deck missions will count again in ranked.
• The new wording of Reflection.

What changes on OriginsMeta

• Card stats don't change: all ten balance changes have been in the card database, the deck builder and MetaShifting since 21 and 29 September.
• The pages of En Passant, Boitata and Reflection keep their current text until we read the new one in the game.
• The Locations page stays as it is until we've checked the new locations in the main demo.

Where these notes come from

The patch notes the team posted on the official Origins TCG Discord on 1 October, with the playtest update; how to join the playtest is explained in the Discord channel demo-v2-playtest-instructions. As of 1 October they are not on Steam.