A fast-paced tabletop game where you try to outmaneuver your opponents in an epic contest of wits and steel.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Choplet's Dungeon Expansion Playtesting
29 days ago
– Fri, May 08, 2026 at 11:41:59 PM
Choplet wields the Power of Friendship! Woop woop!
We've been busy working on the Choplet's Dungeon expansion for Swords: Cut The Deck, which you can come and playtest tomorrow at the New Zealand Games Festival at the Micheal Fowler Centre.
Here are some things we've changed (so far!)
What? Sickle is devolving!
Hero cards now always display their Health stat in the same red hue as the back of the card.
The word "Hero" is red too.
The Health UI is now on a slightly different banner to make it easier to differentiate from Sword Damage.
Heroes name banner is now colour-coded by element, instead of every card having a unique colour scheme
There are a few returning cards in this set with slightly updated wording, but we tried to keep the spirit of each card the same.
There are now 1 Gold heroes, which we never had in the base game! From testing so far, I think they change the pacing in a positive way.
There are two vanilla, 1-gold heroes with no ability, and two swords like that as well, so you can have a really basic game with a beginner more easily.
Sword cards damage is now always shown in the same yellow hue as the back of the card.
We're now embracing the term "Base Damage" to refer to the number shown on the card, so there are less sequence-of-event problems in theory
Each element has a dedicated background artwork, unless it's a sword in a scene.
Removed most instances of a Sword card featuring a character holding the sword - they confused people
Cutbert is a little weaker now. Hold on to your old one, he's destined for a Ban List one day.
Move cards have text!
Cards have a new label OFFENSIVE, DEFENSIVE or U̶T̶I̶L̶I̶T̶Y TACTICAL
You can use your original or new Move cards as you please
The Choplet's Dungeon expansion is designed to be beginner friendly, so won't reference Burn, Poison or Necrotic tokens; but everything is fully compatible with the base game.
If you can't make it tomorrow, the prototype will also be playable at Wellycon at the end of the month.
There are currently 301 backers (9%) who have not received their orders of the base game. If that sounds like you, please get in touch - everyone who has emailed us since the last update should now be processed.
The new swords.game website is almost ready, with video tutorials, playable content, a searchable database and some surprises. We'll let you know.
That's all for now, see you tomorrow Wellingtonians!
Cheers,
Matthew Switchhog Tamer
Thane Says Choplet is better than Quest Sprout??!
Swords Episode 1000
3 months ago
– Tue, Mar 10, 2026 at 07:15:18 AM
Episode M 1/2
Episode M 2/2
Over the last few days, I hit two huge personal milestones - Swords Episode 1000 and Swords 8th Anniversary! Thank you to everyone for supporting the series!
And now the webcomic is on a brief hiatus until we sort out some things...
Qwest?
We have been shipping Swords: Cut The Deck for a year now and there are still 338 people we haven't been able to get in touch with! If that sounds like you, we'd really like to unite you with your copies, so please drop us an orb transmission! Please!
Build your ultimate deck
Thane has been hard at work, and we'll have some big updates to the sword.game website shortly, including:
A better landing page with more information about the game
A fully illustrated card database, with keyword search, so you can quickly find every Armor card, or Mystery Sword, or whatever you need
The Qwest Test is currently playable, illustrated and is just about ready to go live with the other changes rolling out. We really are sorry it's taken so long - we hired an extra game designer to help and still circled back a few times to get it right. We're feeling good about it! It will be available as a PDF and also as an interactive browser-based adventure. The other adventures will roll out shortly afterwards.
Qwest!
In the meanwhile...
Something dazzling I've been helping with...
If you've enjoyed looking through cards with my art on them, I contributed 101 cute critters to DAZZLING DUNGEON DECKS, which launched today on Kickstarter. This is a joint project with two Cut The Deck guest artists, MyDadIsDracula and TheImmortalThinkTank, plus a new but very experienced collaborator, Jason Anarchy. I'd appreciate you checking it out and sharing it with your friends.
From Jason's mind to my pencil
I will be tabling as a Gold Sponsor at Wellycon this year, with Cut The Deck set up to play and a few Makeship plushies available you might have missed out on. See you there!
I might even have some new cards people can help me playtest?
If you haven't picked up a copy of SWORDS: CUT THE DECK, you can get it on BackerKit - and don't forget to grab some Quest Sprout dice too! We ship from Texas, USA and Wellington, NZ.
And as always, thank you for your support!
Matthew King Of Games
80 Percent Shipped! One Last Swing Before We Take A Break!
11 months ago
– Thu, Jul 03, 2025 at 06:05:03 PM
The Cut the Deck team are taking a break!
We’re approaching the end of shipping! Hooray! Unless you placed your order within the last week, you should have gotten a tracking number by now. Quick reminder: you might receive a tracking number up to a week before we actually ship.
If you are one of the people who pre-ordered Cut the Deck a long time ago and still don't have a tracking number, we'll need your help to move your order along.
Please run through these steps:
Double check all your email addresses. (Note: changing personal info on Kickstarter doesn’t always change it on Backerkit.)
Find your survey email and go through the survey one more time, even if your address hasn’t changed, making sure that you reach the confirmation at the very end.
Check your inbox and spam folders. If we already charged your card and it was declined, you should have an email that gives you a link to update your card if needed. We automatically attempt to charge all declined cards once or twice a week now.
If you’re in Brazil or Mexico, send us your CPF or RFC.
Wait a few days. We run through the process of attempting to automatically lock orders and addresses (which marks them as "ready to fulfil") about twice a week at this point.
After that, if you still haven’t gotten an email with a tracking number (check spam just in case), email [email protected] and tell us you completed the steps, but don’t have a tracking number yet. (Your order might be stuck in the pipeline somewhere; we’ll fix it!)
There will be a pause on shipping from July 19 - August 10, but we will still be able to respond to emails. We're really looking forward to seeing the last of the games unsheathed and enjoyed!
Our patented Knight-based counting system
If you are new to Cut the Deck, you can order a copy here - we'll do our best to send it before the cutoff date above. This break only affects shipping from Texas, USA. If you are in New Zealand or Australia, shipping will continue to be available from Wellington, NZ for the Hero Edition, Dice and Playmats. If you'd like to learn more about Swords: Cut the Deck, you can read the rules here or read reviews here
If you got your copy earlier in the year and did not receive a physical copy of the Quickplay Rules, you can request one here, sent free of charge.
Thane will be at Gen Con
Thane will be in the crowd at Gen Con Indianapolis, so if you'd like to arrange to pick up a copy or learn how to play, get in touch! [email protected]
Thanks to everyone who stopped by at Wellycon!
We had a great time at Wellycon teaching people how to play! All of the feedback was super positive! Thanks for stopping by!
Kargob watches on in horror as Matthew defeats his own customers in battle
New version of the rules coming
We're having some technical difficulties getting it up on the website, but Version 1.2 of the rules, a print-friendly version of the 1.2 rules and the Quickplay Rules will be up here shortly.
Patch notes:
Reorganized the chapters of the Rulebook to better match the Quickstart Rules.
Added a section to describe how to unpack the game and sort the cards efficiently.
Added rulings for Birthday Blade, Estoctopus, and Necktie Sword.
Changed terminology to avoid confusion between Gold and Tokens.
Enforce a specific order End Them Rightly, Swap, and Remedy.
Clarified that players can look at their own face down cards at any time.
Bonus damage from abilities also bypasses Block when Cleaving.
Corrected rules about when the Mystery Sword becomes a random Sword.
Clarified what happens in a Team Rumble when there aren't enough Heroes/Swords for all players to play.
Let's Get Homebrewing
We're also looking for peoples House Rules we can add to a collection, so people who want to help evolve the core rules further can get their ideas tested by the community. Should Burn Tokens always do Necrotic Damage? Should Poison Tokens stack damage? Is it weird that Bread Knight and Lemon Knight are Food Knights, but Toast Knight isn't? Come join the Discord if you'd like to be involved.
Do move cards need a makeover?
We've also been discussing if Move cards should get a makeover in a future expansion. There's a general sense that having the rules on the cards would be helpful, but it still needs to be readable across the table. What do you think?
That's it for now! We hope you're enjoying your copies of the game!
Stacey Deserves a holiday
Thane Deserves a holiday
Matthew Always making something
2k Orders Sent!
12 months ago
– Thu, Jun 12, 2025 at 06:00:53 PM
We've passed 2222 packages shipped!
United States orders:
We’re now at a stage where we are processing large batches of domestic (US) orders, so each batch takes longer. It’s normal to have paid your shipping but not see a tracking number yet. It can take a week or two, but we promise we’re working hard to get those games shipped!
If you’ve already paid for shipping but haven’t gotten your package yet, it’s probably in one of these stages:
In the current batch, but not yet packed (we like to make the boxes a little bit special, so it takes some time to prepare them).
In the current batch, packed and labelled, but not yet shipped (it’s most efficient for us to wait until we have a large set prepared, then take them all to be delivered at the same time. You might have a tracking number already because that appears when we print the label, but not see any movement yet).
In the current batch, shipped and in transit, but not yet delivered (you will have received a tracking number, and can check on it via UPS or USPS, followed by a regional shipping company if you’re not in the US).
Rarely, a package will get lost in transit, or wrongly say it was delivered. In those cases, please email us directly at [email protected] and we’ll get you sorted.
It's in the next batch – stand by for an email with your tracking number once we process it! We can’t give a firm timeline, but for domestic orders, we’re hoping to begin processing the next big batch towards the end of this week.
If you haven’t paid for shipping yet, you might be one of these cases:
You just haven’t paid shipping yet. When we begin processing your batch, it’ll automatically charge the card you have on file. Then, if your payment is accepted, we’ll move on to packing and shipping your order.
Your card was declined for whatever reason. You probably got an email from Backerkit to let you update it. If that doesn’t work, email us at [email protected] and we have some solutions.
You haven’t gotten a new “update address/order” email from Backerkit at all. Maybe you have an old email address on file (or an Apple private relay ID, which gets lost sometimes), maybe you created an order more recently than our latest survey push, or maybe your order is stuck in a weird processing loop (it’s rare, but does happen). For any of those cases, check your various email addresses and your spam folders first, then please give us a couple weeks if nothing’s there. If you still haven’t seen a Backerkit email by July, email [email protected], and we’ll figure out the issue.
International orders:
We’ve finished the first large batch of non-US orders, but there will be another batch coming up soon! No need to stress if you haven’t gotten an email yet. We haven’t sent them all out yet.
Reminder that you will need to pay tariffs/customs. We’re doing our best to make them as reasonable as possible, but they will be charged when your package enters your country, and we have no way to pay them for you. You should NOT have to pay excessive carrier fees. That’s supposed to be covered by the shipping you’ve already paid. Email [email protected] if something is wrong there.
Brazil and Mexico: We need your recipient tax ID to ship to you. You’ll receive an email from [email protected] when we’re ready for it, so please respond when you see it, and check your spam occasionally.
Canada: There are some complications with US-to-Canada shipping right now, so your order might be delayed or have unexpected carrier costs. Email [email protected] if something seems unusual.
The Beginners Blade is here to help!
Physical Quick-Start Rulebook:
We’ve prepared a thoroughly-edited and beautifully-formatted mini brochure that’s essentially a tutorial for new players. It’s handy, but not necessary to play the game, and all the info (and a pdf of the brochure) will be on the website soon here: https://swords.game/cut-the-deck
We hadn’t planned on creating a physical rulebook, since we already have a hefty 56-page digital rulebook online, but there’s been a lot of demand for a nice, convenient quick-start guide!
Since it’s up to our standards and back from the printer now, we’ll be shipping them with every future order. If you’ve already received your copy of Swords: Cut the Deck and would like us to mail you a free copy, please fill out this Google form LINK and we’ll get those sent out soon.
Wellycon 2025
Matthew will be attending Wellycon next weekend. If you're in Wellington, NZ, come play some cards and say hi! He'll be happy to sign your "Matthew the Artist" card and will have some copies of the Quick-Start Rulebook too.
Gen Con 2025 (and Local Shipping)
Thane will be at Gen Con in Indianapolis and he’d love to meet up with fellow Swords fans! If you’ll be there and want your package hand-delivered (free shipping!) or just to chat or play a round, email him at [email protected]. (Also note that if you’re willing to pick up your order in Houston, TX, that’s also free shipping. Choose the “local shipping” option on the survey, or email Thane.)
In Conclusion…
As always, thank you for your patience and encouragement and for being as excited as we are about this game! We love hearing about how it fares in the wild, so let us know how your Bouts play out!
We've still got some promises to keep before we start anything new, but Thane has been working on a shiny new system behind the scenes that streamlines the card designing process quite a bit! Our intention is to make some Expansion Packs that contain everything a new player needs to play, even without the base game. We've got a growing list of small improvements to make and we hope you'll enjoy whatever comes next.
1000 Units Shipped!
about 1 year ago
– Mon, May 05, 2025 at 06:06:10 PM
Hi gang,
Just a small update to let you know that we have now shipped over 1000 copies of Swords: Cut the Deck!
That is largely International orders leaving the USA, which are a little bit trickier. It wasn't the original plan, but it became important to focus on exports first, before the evolving tariff situation created any more uncertainty. There are now only around 100 International orders left to process - please make sure your BackerKit order is up to date if you haven't!
Fly, my pretties
We are now moving on to the rest of the USA orders - if you get an email asking you to update your details, it makes the process smoother for us if you still take the time to click through it, even if you make no changes to your order. Once that's done, please don't panic if it takes a few days to get your shipping number.
Thanks to all the people who are adding more things to your orders! We have SO many dice left!
The signed card collection grows more powerful!
Matthew teaching people how to play at Wellington Armageddon
Sadly, we didn't win at the Pav Awards on Friday! But it was great to be nominated, thank you for having us! Let's keep working hard to make Cut the Deck more and more awesome!
Almost a cut above the rest
Thanks for coming on this quest with us. We're currently having conversations behind the scenes about what the future of the game will look like, and we'll be looking forward to working with you all closely to make sure the next steps make meaningful updates to the core game.
