Clan Wars have been added to Clash Royale, and based on our first three wars, I love the addition. It does so much right, brings to light what CR does well overall, and adds a bit of much-needed weight to specific games you play.
Here is a link to a complete breakdown, but I’ll talk about the parts I like most below.
There are two phases to clan wars. The first is you play three matches, with each game played getting you cards that go into a guild card pool for the war. A win is worth more cards, but even a loss is better than not playing at all. The result is you care if you win, more-so than the average game, but losing isn’t a complete failure. The fact that all current game modes are available here is nice variety AND lets you pick and choose what you feel most comfortable with. Personally I like draft mode, but also recognize that it’s the most random. If you have a bad draft, it might be hard to overcome a decent opponent.
Phase two you have one attack, and you compete against four other clans, though indirectly. Each win gets you a point, a loss gets you nothing. The clans are ranked 1-5 based on total points at the end of the round. This results in that one game being somewhat high-pressure, which I enjoy. What really makes this interesting however is you must build a deck from the cards your clan has earned in phase one, so you can’t just play what you are comfortable with, and each war you must design the best deck you can from the choices you are given.
So what clan wars have added is a premium on clan deck building, higher stakes games, and finally a real reason for players to care how their clan-mates perform, similar to how in Clash of Clans you care how well others attack during wars. CR was missing all that, and now has it.
The update also means all cards in the game will see action, and balance won’t be strictly based on ladder play. When new cards are added, they don’t impact the upper ladder meta because of the time it takes to max them out, but they will instantly impact the war meta, which is exciting.
Finally, from a financial aspect this update is also brilliant, because you can’t use the community clan cards unless you also own them personally, and have them at the same or higher level. For the starter ranks, this means tourney-level cards, which aren’t expensive to upgrade, but once clans start to reach the higher ranks, the card levels increase, and so will the motivation/pressure to get those cards up, which will no doubt drive more people into the cash shop. That aspect is the only negative some see in the update, but I’d rather the game motivate people to spend this way (because its actually pretty easy to reach this level without spending) over the many other ways many F2P games go.
Our clan in CR is currently full, but we have some randoms that I can remove for blog readers who would like to join, though you do need 1000 trophies and level 8, the minimum level for clan wars. If you are interested, just mention the blog when applying. Our clan name is “Supreme Cream!”
Hardcore Casual 
I’m really enjoying it too, although I’m not 100% sold on only having one battle on War Day – maybe having three battles, same as Collection Day, would be more enjoyable? It’s just a bit TOO feelsbadman to get roflstomped in your one fight and left thinking “is that all I get?”
But I have to say.. until I read this blog post, I honestly thought I was the only person alive who was happy with this new Clan Wars feature. Every single other member of my clan hates it, compared to the old weekend clan chest. I had a bit of a browse around the internets looking for info, too, and the reaction seemed to be very close to 100% negative.
I personally dislike the new system.
The positives you point out are indeed positive. However, the Clan chest gave an incentive for me to play games beyond the daily 10 wins. It has been replaced with… play 3 games one day, then one game the next, then repeat. Even worse, you can only play the 2v2 modes if someone from your own clan is online, which is difficult when everyone is in different time zones. It makes “sense” given the theme of clan wars, but I end up putzing around until Draft is available.
Finally, I have no clue when the final reward is handed out, or what it might contain, or how my clan is doing. For example, my clan is #1 out of the 5 clans this… week? Two-day cycle? Well, okay… what does that mean? I don’t remember getting a chest two days ago. Does it mean anything? Is it checked at the end of the month?
It’s all really some convoluted nonsense. I also hate the fact I have to hit the Chat tab every time I log into in the game in order to see text/requests, and that these tabs are frequently hidden behind the purchase overlay for several seconds right after you win a battle. Bad visual design, which makes it feel like there’s a Team B in charge now.
The clan war chest is given out at the end of the season, and its based on your clan rank (clan trophies), which you earn each war. The higher the clan rank, the larger the rewards, but also the higher the card levels go (more cards per win/loss on day one, and a bigger spread), and of course you will face tougher clans as well. Right now matchmaking is of course sorting that all out as everyone is at the lowest rank.
Agree on the UI stuff, they need to clean that up, but I don’t doubt they will.
I’ve been enjoying it, thought I’ll agree with carson that I’d like more matches on war day. It’s a bunch less action compared to the old trophy grind, but I think that the overall direction the game is heading is good, and at least we can start wars up as soon as they end. Looking forward to that 20k gold reward after tomorrow’s match!