Merge or not: the 4 kinds of cards

Merging ranks a card up but takes a Minion off the board. In some decks that costs nothing; in others it costs the game.

What the game says

officialYou can merge 2 Minions of the same ★ rank up to a maximum of 3★.

officialThe Minions' ATK will be added together when they merge.

officialGreen numbers in ability descriptions mean they change with your Minion's ★ rank.

officialMerging Minions is the best way to improve your ATK.

officialAbility texts show 4 numbers (e.g. 2/4/8/20) because Rumble Chess allows merging up to ★4 (in-game wiki). Normal mode uses the first 3.

What merging changes

wikiBoth copies' ATK is added together, so ATK stays the same. The rest changes like this:

confirmedEvery Minion on board, temporary ones included, sends Rush Squad units to the opponent. Fewer bodies, fewer units.

The 4 kinds of cards

Each card's text puts it in one of these 4 groups. The deck builder uses the same split.

1. Wide: no need to merge

officialHeadless Jack "Aura: This Minion gains ATK +5/10/20/60 for every 10% HP the Captain is missing." Each copy has its own aura: 2 ★1 give +5 and +5, same as one ★2.

officialPom Piper "Ready: Temp increases 3 random Minions' ATK by 2/4/8/20." Two ★1 give 6 buffs of +2; one ★2 gives 3 of +4. Same total, spread over more Minions.

other

other

other

2

2

2

other

other

other

other

other

other

wikiSame Headless Jack power on both. What decides it is what you'd put in the 3 free tiles: if nothing better, wide wins.

communitySeen in a high level game: 7 unmerged ★1 Headless Jacks, with the Captain kept at low HP on purpose to max out the aura.

2. Tall: only good merged

officialGuaca Sage "Ready: Temp increases this Minion's ATK by 80%/80%/80%/120% if it's at 3★." Before ★3 it does nothing: merging is the plan.

officialGlowkeeper "When this Minion is promoted, all other Minions' ATK increases by 2, and it gains ATK +2 for every empty tile on the field." All of it only comes on promotion: without merging, it gives nothing.

3. Unique: the 2nd copy hurts

officialShamaness "Ready: Increases the ATK of other Minions by +2/4/8/32 (only 1 of each duplicate). Instead grants ATK +4/8/16/64 if there are no duplicates on the field." Duplicates on board halve the bonus, so the whole deck prefers merging.

officialJoe Tycoon "Deploy: Increases the selected Minion's ATK by 8 and spends all Suncoins, each increasing its ATK by 2." A second Joe in the same round finds an empty pocket.

confirmedNext round, with fresh sun, another Joe is worth it again.

4. Capped: good up to a point

officialCheerbloom "Aura: Increases the ATK of the Minion 1 tile above by 2/4/8/20." Each copy needs a Minion above it, so the board limits how many pay off.

officialSeed Peon "Reduces the Purchase Price by 2. Temp increases the Purchase Price by 1 for each Seed Peon you buy." Each copy that round costs more. Where it stops paying off hasn't been measured yet.

When to merge even in a wide deck

• wikiAll 9 tiles are taken: the next copy only goes in by merging.
• communityThe round before the Boss (2, 5, 8): it swallows Rush Squad units to gain HP, and fewer bodies can keep it leaner.

Carrot Broker Bug reported by Khaan: buying a card from the shop straight onto another copy (merging) skips its On Purchase. With Carrot Broker you lose the guaranteed cost 8. Buy it into an empty tile and merge after.

The deck builder builds the target board with how many copies of each card to use and says, card by card, whether to merge. See also Boss rounds.