I love the core gameplay of Rivals. It's fast-paced action on a small scale, while still maintaining strategy and tactics. However, despite the amount of time I've spent and fun I've had I'm pretty close to uninstalling it for good. I think the card system is going to kill this game, it's way too random.
I have gotten enough cards to get a Scarab to level 8, and almost enough for the Talon. But I don't care, I don't use those units. My riflemen were up to level 7 about a week ago. I've only gotten 50 or so cards since from crates, and I'm getting about 4-6 crates a day through supply convoys, bounties, completing zones, and the free crates. Meanwhile, the opponents I'm matching against have level 8 riflemen, level 7 flame troopers, level 8 Predators, etc. I don't even have enough cards to level up my Predators to 7, they're still stuck on 6. The stat gap is so large there are times where I simply can't compete. It's gotten to the point where I either can't win unless my opponent makes a mistake or any mistakes I make are magnified into a loss through disparate unit stats.
Either there needs to be a new system to replace the cards or it needs to be easier to get the ones you want. You can use two or so missile squads to keep attack buggies at bay if you happened to go infantry while your opponent went vehicles. But you can't do that when your missile squads are level 6 and the attack buggies are level 8. Also, I can't even play with Nod and use epic units. I have only gotten artillery cards through buying them from the store, and I haven't even gotten enough in any other units to get to level 6. Meanwhile, all of my epic GDI units are at level 7 or almost at level 6. The stratagies I can use and the units I can run with are being limited by the card system.
I had a lot of fun playing at the lower levels, but my bad luck with card drops has killed all the fun in the game for me. If I want to play a strategy game where I'm handicapped I'll go play Star Craft or one of the old C&C games where the increased depth of strategy and tactics gives me a fighting chance. This can't work for a mobile game.