Kaycee’s Mod is a challenge mode version of Act 1. It’s not “endless,” per se – the run doesn’t repeat maps, or continue forever. It ends after you fight Leshy, like in the base game.
However, it’s endless in that you’ll keep unlocking cards, starter decks, and challenges, so it’s more engaging to play repeatedly. And you don't have Magnificus constantly yelling at you to take the film roll.
These are unlocked by winning runs (defeating Leshy) with challenges active.
The first two Challenge Levels require 5 and 15 Challenge Points, respectively.
From Challenge Level 3 onwards, they require (10 × the challenge level) points to clear it; i.e. challenge level 3 requires 30 challenge points, challenge level 4 requires 40, and so forth, up to challenge level 12.
There is no benefit to exceeding the challenge point requirement (except bragging rights.) You cannot complete more than one challenge level at a time.
OTK = One Turn Kill
WinCon = Win Condition; the card(s) you rely on to win
Kaycee’s Mod is quite a bit harder than the base game.
As a result, deckbuilding becomes far more important. Planning what nodes to choose, what cards to pull, what you’re going to sacrifice – this should be your main focus. Battle strategy is secondary. Sure, you need to have an understanding of battle strategy to plan your deck, but making a deck that works is the real challenge.
You should start with two goals in mind:
Make at least one wincon; however, having more is better. Having two or three is usually a good safe zone.
You can still win with only one, given that you stick closely to goal #2-
Have a small deck. This is extremely important.1 It ensures you can reliably pull your wincon(s).
And by “small,” I mean ten cards or less. Some of the most successful decks I’ve seen were 4-5 cards.
This can be mitigated by using hand manipulation, but trimming cards is still a high priority. Quality is better than quantity.
1 Unless you’ve got a specific strategy in mind, in which case you’re probably aware of most of these tips.
The safest way to play KCM is by getting an OTK whenever possible.
Leshy can’t hit you with a Bifurcated Turkey Vulture as long as you hit him first.
The two goals achieve this by
1. Having a card that can OTK, and more importantly...
2.Ensuring that you draw that card on the first turn.
Additional Tips:
Assuming you’re starting with the Vanilla deck (Stoat, Bullfrog, Wolf), the Wolf is your most reliable option for getting a card with 5+ damage. Adding Bifurcated Strike to your Wolf (from Mantis or Pronghorn) gets you 6 damage with good placement.
Keeping a small deck is harder than it sounds. Here’s the section on deck downsizing - it’s got a card gain/loss chart for the different map nodes, to give you a quick reference for what nodes to prioritize.
The topdeck algorithm attempts to give you a playable card in the first turn, and can be used to guarantee your OTK gets in your hand every battle.
See Challenge Level Tips for each specific challenge level, as the tools you have increase alongside them.
When picking cards, try consider what it will do for your deck. Try to fill in weaknesses, such as not having cards with high attack.
WIP; more tips to be added.