Card Master Guide by Ben

Usually when I see someone at the loading screen and sigh' I know they are good. Ben has the most annoying card master I've ever played against. Enjoy!

[Guide] Twisted Fate - The Card Master

Base Stats - Who cares!

Skill Build
Level 1 - Pick a Card
Level 2 - Wild Cards
Level 3 - Wild Cards
Level 4 - Gate
Level 5 - Wild Cards
Level 6 - Destiny
Level 7 - Wild Cards
Level 8 - Pick a Card
Level 9 - Wild Cards
Level 10 - Pick a Card
Level 11 - Destiny
Level 12 - Pick a Card
Level 13 - Pick a Card
Level 14 - Gate
Level 15 - Gate
Level 16 - Destiny
Level 17 - Gate
Level 18 - Gate
You can swap Wild Cards for Gate at level 3 if you need to heal.

Summoner Spells
Exhaust / Flash

Runes
Red - Armor Pen
Yellow - HP / 18
Blue - Mana Regen / 18
Quint - Static HP (+118)

Masteries
9 / 0 / 21
Offense: 3 in AP, 1 in Exhaust, 4 in Cooldown, 1 in MR Reduction
Utility: 3 in Regen, 2 in Good Hands, 4 in %EXP, 1 in Greed, 3 in Mana Regen, 3 in Move Speed, 1 in Flash, 3 in Cooldown, 1 in last mastery.

Build Order
Meki Pendant
2 HP Potions
Chalice
Sorcerer Boots
Mejai Soulstealer
Elixir of Brilliance (Always have one on)
Sheen
Lich Bane
Zhongya's Ring

Level 1-5

The most important aspect to playing CM well is getting the timing for gold card down. You should be able to do it without even looking at your screen after it turns red. Basically just let it go from blue -> red, and then you need to get the timing for red->gold down without looking. It's pretty easy for me, but if you can't do it 90% of the time, I don't think CM is for you.
After the whole level 1 team fight or dragon or golem/lizard buff, head to a lane!
Harass with gold cards to gauge the damage on them. Don't harass with Wild Cards until it's level 2. Once you're level 3, and you've gauged damage of Gold Cards + Wild Cards, harass them until they will die from Gold Cards + Wild Cards + 2-3 regular hits.
They never expect the gold card + flash combo, I don't know why. But basically:

Lock Gold -> Flash In -> Exhaust -> Stun -> Wild Cards -> Regular Attack
And you'll likely get first blood (You can Exhaust after Stun if you need more hits).
At level 4 you'll probably run low on mana, just try to get 850 gold, so you can grab a chalice + boots when you blue pill to base. If you can't gank anyone, then just gate back to your lane and repeat above until level 6.

Level 6+
Lane until your Gate + Destiny combo is up, and then just notify your team and wait to setup a gank. Lock a gold card, Destiny, Gate behind them, Stun -> Wild Card -> Regular hit, and throw in Exhaust as needed.

In team fights, just try to get in as many gold card stuns as you can. Stay back, throw wild cards, and get gold cards. Don't use regular attacks. How useful you are at this point depends entirely on your gold card timing. As far as farming goes, once you get an elixir, you should be clearing waves with Wild Card.

General Notes
Basically, the more gold cards you land on the enemy during the game, the better you did. That is REALLY all there is to it. Even if it's just for harassment. Landing Gold Card + Wild Card combo for harassment hurts, and is great for farming.

Golem Buff is never a bad idea, it's actually not amazingly useful on CM, but if there's no other caster, go for it.

The reason for AP over DPS is simple. You will be too close to the fight as a DPS. CM isn't a tank, so just hang back, get gold cards, and toss wild cards. Don't go into the fray without a gold card, or a blue/red card if you are going to time into a gold card as you walk in.

If you're attacking a tower, just lock blue card over and over.
CM is also great at jungling once you hit level 5. Just stunlock with gold cards, and spam wild cards. So do get the 2 golems / 3 wolves / 4 ghoul spawn whenever you can.
Also, when you Destiny + Gate to kill someone in a gank, and you can't kill them after a standard combo, don't regular attack. Just start running to / ahead of them until Pick a Card cooldown refreshes. Then lock a gold, and do a 2nd combo from there.

Using Destiny
Aside from gold cards, CM's next best skill is Destiny. Do NOT use it to check vision unless you're 80% sure someone is jungling, and might be low enough for you to Gate in and kill with a Gold Card pre-locked.

Always have a gold card locked before you use destiny.
Destiny is MAINLY used in a team fight. Once you spot a group of enemies, and you're roaming with your teammates, as you pop out of brush / fog, use destiny, and stun with gold card. This lets your team easily engage them, and prevents them from running. It also messes their team fight capabilities, as the tanks won't be tanking, and it will be difficult for champions like Rammus to initiate. Players will also be more likely to mess up which champions to target and the timing of their skill casts.

Basically, casting Destiny right before / during a team fight is the best time.
The only other acceptable time to use it, is during Baron, in order to slow them from reaching you when Baron is almost dead or to stop them from doing Baron. But usually, wards/shrooms are used to prevent enemy Baron.