Grasshoppers,
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The time has come for you to master the ancient arts of Card-Jitsu. This in-depth overview blog post will be your complete guide to the release and future of our upcoming game, Card-Jitsu, along with the brand new Card-Jitsu: League. Our game has been built completely from scratch, from the ground-up in HTML5. You’ll be experiencing extremely fluid gameplay with nostalgic art styles, new animations, music, sound effects, and much more. We’re excited to finally be able to unveil this project to everyone.

If you haven’t already seen our Producer’s Guide, be sure to watch below. This blog post will serve as a comprehensive guide to the revamped and remastered version of Card-Jitsu, and explain everything regarding League with extensive insight as to why certain decisions were made.

Firstly, our goal for Card-Jitsu is to retain as much of the nostalgic elements as possible. This is why we’ve made minimal changes to the basic gameplay elements of the game where you’ll experience the same Card-Jitsu mechanics. Down the line however, we’ll be making quality of life changes to gameplay for balancing as well as overall enjoyment.

Our vision for Card-Jitsu is to become more competitive. We are all competitors one way or another, and the base version of the original Card-Jitsu will serve as our benchmark for future iterations to the Card-Jitsu trilogy and beyond. Your progress toward the original Card-Jitsu will determine how you play Water, Fire, and more.

With that being said, let’s jump right into our guide on how the future of Card-Jitsu will look.

What is League?

League, or Card-Jitsu: League is Club Penguin Legacy’s competitive-based system for Card-Jitsu. This is where Ranked gameplay lives and you will only be able to progress through Belts using League. League is completely new and offers unique challenges, ELO-based progression, and much more.

When we first started to tackle Card-Jitsu, we wanted to address some of the core fundamental flaws behind the mechanics of the game. These included, but not limited to:

• Luck-based matchmaking system: The original Card-Jitsu game matched you with players of any rank, meaning you could be a White Belt going against a Black Belt. This could make it difficult for new players to rank up, as they were going against more experienced opponents.
• Limited replay value: Once players earned the Black Belt in Card-Jitsu, there wasn't much else to do in terms of achieving further ranks or completing challenges. This could lead to players losing interest in the game over time.
• Inequality in gameplay: In the original game, players unlocked power cards through buying merchandise with real money, which gave them an unfair advantage in the game. This could make it difficult for players who didn't want to spend real money to progress in the game.

The most important fundamental flaw that our team wanted to address is the fact that Card-Jitsu was ultimately a luck-based game. In the beginning, our team ran various tests to determine what would happen if a player was on “auto-pilot” while another player made conscious decisions to win a match.

With the result of our experiment, we’ve concluded that luck and random chance win more than strategy, which is a flaw in how we wanted to set up a future competitive-driven system in Card-Jitsu. League solves these issues, and down the line, we’ll be adding more updates to address these gameplay inconsistencies further. We’ve developed a game that stays true to the original, while adding a lot more strategic value to the game. You’ll no longer be able to put your brain on autopilot and click random cards and win. As a matter of fact, you will be punished heavily in doing so. Our end goal is to promote more of a competitive-driven game that stays true to the traditional trading card games that we’ve seen in the past.
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Starter Deck

When you talk to Sensei, you’ll receive your Starter Deck, which includes 24 cards, including 1 Power Card to start. These cards will be the minimum amount of cards that you’ll need for The Draft rotation. Each player will get a different Starter Deck, however the value of cards and distribution of elements will be exactly the same.

The Starter Deck is required for you to play any Training or League matches.
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Placement Matches

Placement Matches, also known as Training Matches or Practice Matches, can be found inside the Dojo as well as purchasable Training Mats in the Martial Artworks Catalog. These games offer the original Card-Jitsu, the way it was designed by the Club Penguin Team for those who want to relive their nostalgia and childhood.

However, unlike the original game, you will not be able to progress through belts using Training Matches as they are completely separate game modes. If you’re a new player, you’ll have to play a minimum of 15 Placement Matches in order to be eligible to compete in League. This is our way to handle smurfs, making it more difficult for them to mass-create accounts. These Placement Matches are there to maintain the competitive integrity of the game and we can also use these Placement Matches to determine your rough MMR and ELO-rating beforehand. Once you’ve completed all 15 Placement Matches, you’ll gain full access to League.

In the future, there is a possibility of us removing the original Card-Jitsu in favor of League’s gameplay mechanics if enough players request that they want the ability to be able to test out new strategies and metas without the fear of losing Belts. Stay tuned for future blog posts on our decision.|

One thing that we’ve added to the Training Matches is limiting the amount of Power Cards that can be randomly drawn to your dealt hand. For Training Matches, there is a maximum of 5 Power Cards that can be used throughout the game to ensure a balanced distribution of cards for more enjoyable gameplay.
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Matchmaking

League can be accessed through talking to Sensei inside the Dojo. You will be unable to earn your belts through the Training Mats. League also solves some of the many issues that the original game has had. These issues included:

• Matchmaking Inequalities (Also known as “Smurfing”): In the original game, you were able to earn your belts through the Practice Mats inside the Dojo. While this may be a quick and easy way to grind your belts, this also presented massive flaws relating to “Smurfing”. Penguins were able to equip belts lower than their rank to bait other Penguins to play with them, providing a disadvantage to newer players and allowing experienced players to rank up faster. With our new competitive vision, we saw this as a gameplay flaw.
• ‍Boosting: Players can play with other friends and take turns losing and winning to progress the belts faster. This creates inconsistencies with the Ranked System and will devalue the process of Belt Progression for other players. Creating a fair environment where all players are equally placed in the same rank is imperative for our team.

League’s matchmaking system will allow players to be placed in a rank equivalent to yours, with exceptions of matchmaking within a threshold of one belt higher or lower in situations where a match cannot be found within a specific timeframe. League will create a fair environment where skill and mental ability is tested to its full potential.
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Belt Progression

This new Belt Progression system offers new life to the game, making it more competitive and rewarding than ever before. We’ve taken measures to ensure that the Belt Progression is fair and also accurately represents your skill level in the game while providing lasting replay value that will outlive your grind to Black Belt. This progression system is a stepping stone to our future iterations of Card-Jitsu. With our new system, your Belt Progression is measured by the new Belt Points (or “BP”) which increases with your raw net wins, and also decreases when you lose games. Your performance will determine how many belts you gain or lose.

With this Progression system, we designed it to not be strictly linear. Meaning, with the added pressure of League and competitive gameplay, you will be able to lose your belts if you drop below the threshold for your current belt. With consecutive losses, you can also lose more Belt Points depending on your recent performance.

This is known as the ELO rating system, and it is used within Card-Jitsu. You can also gain Performance Bonuses based on performance, and also lose more Belt Points if you’ve been on a bit of a losing streak. This is our rating system correcting itself and ensuring that you’re not being placed at an inappropriate level compared to your skill due to a few lucky matches.

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Our mission toward this new Belt Progression is to ensure that players are placed in the right Belt Rank according to their skill level. We believe this new Belt Progression system makes climbing the ranks more engaging and rewarding in the long run.
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Power Card Spin

Power Card Spins is our way of obtaining Power Cards in the game. When you progress to a new belt rank, you earn 1 new Power Card Spin, which is accessible through the Belt Progression screen.

You’ll need to purchase a spin for 15,000 coins and you can spin for 5 unique Power Cards. Each Power Card that you spin will be brand new so you won’t ever have to worry about getting the same Power Card.

If you’re not interested or dislike a specific Power Card that you’ve drawn, you have 1 respin that you can use for any of the 5 cards. Just be careful as you can only use the respin once. So, use it valuably on your least favorite card. A respin will cost you 3,000 coins.

We highly recommend you review your card inventory beforehand and know which card and effects you may be missing. You can visit this link that will guide you on all the Power Card effects that are available in-game.

Here are some things to note: If you’ve reached a certain belt and were demoted to the previous belt rank, and climbed back up, you won’t receive another Power Card Spin. To put it simply, there are 9 belts that you can climb in League, which means you’ll only get a total of 9 Power Card Spins. In total, you’ll receive 45 Power Cards during your climb to Black Belt.
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The Draft

In League, before matches you’ll enter what’s known as “The Draft”. The Draft allows you to select the cards that you want to play with in a League match, giving you ultimate control and freedom over your selections. This was not previously available in the original iteration of Card-Jitsu, and The Draft adds a brand new strategic element to the game.

You’ll have 2 minutes inside The Draft to select the cards that you want in your rotation. Your rotation is what will determine which cards will be drawn into your dealt hand (your dealt hand is the selection of 5 cards that you will be given in a match for you to play with).

While navigating The Draft, it’s important to note that there are some limitations that you need to work around. For starters, your first six cards will be distributed randomly and will prioritize the lower-value cards. This was done strictly for balancing purposes where if a player is given complete control, these lower-value cards will never be selected. While we want to push for more strategic gameplay, it’s important to retain some of these random features intact so that the gameplay is more enjoyable and the learning curve isn't as steep for newcomers.

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The rest of these limitations are as follows:

• You can only select 2 of the Value 7 cards in your inventory
• You can only select 1 of the Value 8 cards in your inventory
• You can only bring in a maximum amount of 5 Power Cards
• You are bringing in a total of 16 cards

Lastly, we recommend you try new strategies, adapt to the various metas in the game, and have multiple decks instead of resorting to 1. Make sure that you pick cards that will give you the advantages in matches as well as cards that have synergy together.
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Utilities

One of the ultimate abilities in League is known as Utilities, and paired up with Power Cards, these provide you unparalleled advantage in matches. Utilities are something we’ve designed from the ground up through countless design meetings and play tests.

We’re confident that Utilities will change the way you play Card-Jitsu, and we’re super excited to share with you all what we’ve been working on with them.
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Inside a League match, you have the ability to use 1 Utility per round and 3 Utilities per match. You pair a Utility with a card that you wish to play during that round. Here is the complete list of Utilities so far for launch:

• Redraw: You can redraw your dealt hand for a new set before the round timer ends.
• Oversight: You can view your opponent’s dealt hand before the round timer ends.
• Immunity: Remove a Power Card effect that your opponent has dealt toward you and also prevent them from dealing any Power Card effects for the current round.
• Confiscation: Select a card from your opponent’s dealt hand and remove it for the entirety of the match.

Utilities also have synergy and can be paired up to create the ultimate power move. For example, pairing your Oversight one round, and your Confiscation the next round can mean that you can view which card you’ll be removing from your opponent’s dealt hand. By default, Confiscation won’t allow you to view the cards you will be removing from your opponent.

We’re excited for you to jump in and start creating new strategies and metas surrounding Utilities. The possibilities are endless and Utilities can potentially save you from losing a match.

Due to the current nature of Immunity, we’re only allowing players to bring in 1 per match.

Our team is constantly looking to add more Utilities in the future. We hope to expand upon this idea by creating and adding more, which will only increase the overall strategy behind the game. We’ll be taking a close look over the next couple months and re-balancing these Utilities as we see fit. Nothing is set in stone and we’re always adapting to new ideas and potential issues.

As we add new Utilities, you’ll be able to bring in more of them per match!
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Challenging Sensei

Unlike the original Card-Jitsu, once you’ve reached the threshold for promotion and the maximum Belt Points in Brown Belt, you’ll be able to challenge Sensei for Black Belt. Challenging Sensei is a difficult task, but with the right mindset and determination, you can best Sensei and earn the rank of Black Belt. Congratulations!

Battling Sensei will use the same mechanics as the Training Card matches and will not feature The Draft or Utilities. You can challenge Sensei however many times you want, and you won’t lose any Belt Points for losing matches against Sensei.

Be wary that you can still lose Belt Points if you play League Matches while at the threshold for promotion.
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Ninja Status

You managed to climb your way to Brown Belt and defeat Sensei to earn the final Belt in your Card-Jitsu journey, congratulations! However, it’s not over just yet. Becoming a Black Belt would mean that you are no longer tied to the standard Belt Progression system, along with Belt Points.

When you become a Black Belt, you gain access to The Hideout, a limited number of pages in the Martial Artworks catalog, as well as Card-Jitsu Fire and Card-Jitsu Water.

If you’re interested in becoming a Ninja, you will be tied to a separate ELO-rating system known as Ninja Rank. Your Ninja Rank is determined by the matches you play in League, against other aspiring and current Ninjas, and higher-level Brown Belts.

When you win or lose games, you’ll gain and decrease in Ninja Rank depending on your performance, which will ultimately determine your Ninja Rank. You’ll need to maintain a minimum of 25 NR to reach Ninja Status, which will unlock the rest of the Martial Artworks catalog, various stamps, and more.

To get a full breakdown on the rewards that you’ll receive from becoming a Ninja, take a look at this handy graphic below.
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Once you’ve become a Ninja, the threshold must be maintained throughout all your matches, including Leaderboards and other competitive League matches. Once you’ve dropped below the threshold, you will be removed from Ninja status and your temporary rewards will be removed, including your access to the full-Martial Artworks Catalog and your Ninja Mask.
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Acts

Acts is the seasonal schedule in which our competitive Card-Jitsu modes cycle through. Acts reset at least once a year, or more, depending on the amount of scheduled updates to Card-Jitsu and other factors.

You can always review when the next Act reset will occur by going to the Leaderboard interface.

When there is an Act reset, all existing Ninjas are demoted down to the highest placement rank, which is Brown Belt. This would mean that you will have to re-challenge Sensei for your Black Belt and climb your way back up to Ninja.

For all other Belts, you can expect a minimum rank reset of 2 or 3 belts. This is determined on your performance from the previous Act which is calculated through an algorithm from your win percentage, amount of wins/losses, and other key factors.

For those who have climbed to Ninja, you will receive rewards based on your placement on the Leaderboard, and other permanent rewards if you have not already received them.
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You may be asking why this system is in place, and we’re here to answer some of your questions and concerns. The Act-based system serves as a way to keep Card-Jitsu and League sustainable long term while also ensuring that newer players will have the chance to ascend through the Belt Progression.

We want to ensure that the rank distribution for League is fairly consistent and balanced. For example, we wouldn’t want the majority of our playerbase to be hovering around the higher-ELO range. This would be unfair for newer players as they won’t be able to matchmake as quickly, if at all, due to the skill-based matchmaking system that is in place. By introducing Act resets where we soft-reset your Matchmaking Rating (“MMR”), we can ensure that the overall distribution of ranks stays consistent throughout the year.

Act Resets also provide us a way to demote boosted or inactive accounts, which further aligns with the competitive integrity of League. In doing this, it allows players to give something to work towards and ensure that statuses aren’t permanent and require maintenance.

With League and Card-Jitsu, we plan on adding new game mechanics and updates that will require Act Resets to follow up. These updates are cumulative and will be deployed at the end of each Act. Due to this, certain playstyles, metas, and strategies can shift, drastically impacting the skill and ability of players. We want to ensure that players are able to adapt to the new meta and also ensure players are being placed in the correct skill level according to the new changes.

With Ninjas, the Leaderboards can feel almost too exclusive at times. Act Resets offer a chance for new players to be given a fair shot at climbing the rankings, rather than having to play catchup.

And lastly, when we perform Act resets, we hard reset infractions, match warnings, and penalties that players may have accumulated.
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Leaderboards

When you become a Ninja, you can start your climb in the Leaderboards. All Ninjas are placed in the Leaderboard system and the Top 25 Ninjas for this Act will be distributed rewards based on their placements at the end of the Act.

These rewards include a Card-Jitsu Value-8 Regular Card, an Act Placement Pin, a Stamp Book Cover, and more.

As our player base continues to grow rapidly, we will be increasing the number of Ninjas that can receive these rewards, and they will be announced at the start of the new Act.

Your Leaderboard placement is determined by various factors such as your total games played, wins and losses, win percentage, as well as your Leaderboard Rating, which is what encapsulates your overall performance and is calculated through various factors.
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The Leaderboard will cycle with the Act system and will reset once an Act has finished. Players who have placed in the previous Act’s leaderboard will be able to grind for a new position with no limitations.

We expect the number of Ninjas to grow in the second Act, and we’ll be more accommodating in the next Act in November when we have additional metrics to work with.

Remember that while you’re playing for a Leaderboard spot, you will have to continue to maintain your Ninja status. You can also lose NR when you lose matches.
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Elite: Championship Tour

Card-Jitsu: Elite Championship Tour is our top-line competitive version of the game. You’ll be able to compete with the best of the best in weekly round-robin matches that will eventually turn into bracket-style playoff tournaments for the ultimate prizes.

These prizes can vary anywhere between third-party rewards, exclusive in-game cosmetics and items, and a Coin payout from 1 million to 5 million Coins.

Here’s how it works. At the start of a new Act, you can enroll into Elite and it will place you in a division based on your current Belt Rank, MMR and relative time-zone. From there, you’ll compete in weekly matches within your division during a specific time slot.

Your performance and match outcome will determine your placement in your division’s seeding. At the end of the round-robin play, the top players will be grouped in a single-elimination, bracket style tournament where you will compete for the ultimate prize.

Elite is set to kickoff later this year, once we’ve adjusted to Card-Jitsu League and the majority of our playerbase and community has had a chance to digest the new gameplay mechanics. We want to ensure the smoothest rollout possible for Elite and minimize bugs and inconsistencies.
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Zen Puffle

The origins of the Zen Puffle are shrouded in mystery, whispered only in the sacred halls of the Dojo, where Sensei himself shares tales of the past. When the island was young and unexplored, a powerful and ancient Puffle ventured from the farthest reaches of the wilderness to seek solitude in the tranquility of the mountains.

The Zen Puffle embodies the very essence of inner peace and meditation. Its demeanor, graceful and composed, attracted the attention of the island's inhabitants who were awe-inspired by its wisdom and gentle nature.

When you reach the status of Ninja, you’ll unlock a brand new room in the outskirts of Club Penguin Island; the home and habitat of the Zen Puffle known as the “Tranquil Peak”.

Here, you can adopt your very first Puffle, the Zen Puffle.
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Rewards

This is a lengthy blog post, so let’s take a second to recap all the potential rewards that you can earn from playing both Card-Jitsu and Card-Jitsu: League. Some of these rewards are permanent while others are act-based and temporary.
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By becoming a Black Belt, you earn the following:

• Black Belt
• The Hideout
• Limited Martial Artworks Catalog

By becoming a Ninja, you earn the following:

• Ninja Mask
• Zen Puffle
• Igloo Location
• Stampbook Cover

By placing Top 25 in the Leaderboards as a Ninja, you earn the following:

• Leaderboard Stamp
• Ninja Act Leaderboard Stamp
• Special Regular Card-Jitsu Value-8 Card
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You can also review these rewards in-game by clicking on the Instructions poster in the Dojo.
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Stamps

As in the original game, we’ve added new stamps for you to collect in Card-Jitsu and League. Some of the stamps are only available in League, while others are available in both modes.

You’ll earn a new stamp each time you progress through the Belt Progression, and these stamps are permanent. Meaning, if you’ve been demoted to a previous belt rank, you would still keep your stamp.

We’ve compiled a list of stamps that are available in-game and which gamemode of Card-Jitsu it may be locked to. You can find this page here: https://cplegacy.com/stamps‍
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Penalties and Infractions

To maintain the competitive integrity of League, we’ve worked for months to perfect our Infractions and Penalties policy and systems. Within League, you’ll have your own in-game reputation system.

It is important to note that we have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to AFK, forced disconnects, tab-outs, among other things. We take great pride in ensuring that matches are played fairly and that all players are fully attentive during these matches.

As such, we like to take the approach of taking action first, and asking questions later. These infractions are designed to side with non-infringing players and we want to spread the message wide and clear.
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Some of these unacceptable actions include:

• Forced Disconnects: Closing the game tab/window or turning off your device.
• Leaving the game: By clicking the leave icon in the top-right corner of your screen.
• Tabbing out: Minimizing the game window for a different tab.
• AFK: Running out the game clock without making a selection.

They are not strictly limited to these actions, and we’ve also designed a completely new AntiCheat system strictly targeting these behaviors. If players are AFK, the match will terminate after a couple rounds. When a match terminates, there will be no win/loss credited to any player.

If you are an infringing player you will receive queue penalties, limiting your ability to play temporarily, as well as increased queue times for players with varying trust scores. Players can also lose their Belt Points for breaching these Competitive Code of Conduct policies where you can lose upward to 50 BR for disciplinary action.

Again, these measures are designed for the players and the competitive integrity of the game. We want to ensure that players are being placed in fair and equal playing fields, and are not given free wins due to another player being AFK or terminating a match. This would hurt the ranked system of the game as it will lead to increased levels of account boosting and players being placed at inappropriate belt ranks.

Such policies and infractions have also been designed for accidental circumstances where your power has gone out or your computer has crashed, for example. We'll try our best to automatically detect instances of these behaviors and rule them out. There are also warning systems in place so you won’t automatically be impacted by the AntiCheat. However, frequent misbehavior will lead you to trigger a lower trust score and higher infraction levels.

If at any time you must leave a League match due to a bug or excruciating circumstances, you can type “LEAVE” using your keyboard to unlock the exit button. Use this sparingly as this will count toward your trust score.
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Competitive Code of Conduct

All of these policies can be reviewed through our newly established Competitive Code of Conduct, which can be found at https://cplegacy.com/competitive-code-of-conduct. This Code of Conduct must be read and agreed to before you queue into your first League match.

You can also find these rules in-game for your reference. These can change at any time with prior warning, so please keep up-to-date on our Club Penguin Legacy Help Twitter page to find out when these rules may change.

Ultimately, our goal is to ensure that our competitive ecosystem remains sustainable and viable long term, which in turn, we hope becomes a more enjoyable experience to play.
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Wrapping Up

We’re so excited to share with you all Card-Jitsu along with League and Elite. This has been a project from our team for multiple months and has been our complete focus. We also have a new Card-Jitsu party planned with custom rooms, Island Quests, and the ability for you to meet both Ninja and Sensei. A separate blog post will be coming that will detail the party very soon.

If you’re interested in taking a look at the gameplay of League, we’ve published an exclusive first look on our YouTube channel which you can find below.

If you have any questions or concerns, you can refer to our FAQ page, which should detail a lot of common questions that players may have about League. You can find our FAQ page here at https://cplegacy.com/faq

Lastly, checkout our brand new Card-Jitsu landing page that was designed by our team to help guide you on your path to Card-Jitsu mastery, which can be found here: https://cplegacy.com/card-jitsu

If you’re interested in participating in the closed-beta of Card-Jitsu testing, you can check out this link for more information: https://cplegacy.com/beta

This was our longest blog post to date, and we hope we covered pretty much everything you need to know to get started. The Card-Jitsu Party, along with Card-Jitsu releases on August 20, 2023, with the queue for League opening 3 days later. Thus, allowing players to complete their placement matches and their Island Quests before they can start their belt grind.

We hope you enjoy Card-Jitsu and Card-Jitsu: League as much as we did designing and developing it. We wish you the best of luck in your games!
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Until then… Waddle on!

- Club Penguin Legacy Team