Each player can only have one card per game or match. Their cards show statistics which can be found in the Scoreboard, as well as two exclusive statistics: an "MVP" statistic, which a player receives when he or she was on fire for a large percentage of the game or match; and a "Gold Medals Earned" statistic, which a player receives when he or she received four or five gold medals during the game or match.
Cards match the team color of the player. Players can vote for any card, regardless of team, and can also vote for their own card. Players can only vote for a card once per game or match. On PC, voting is accomplished by clicking the button underneath the card, and on console, it is accomplished by pressing the respective buttons (X, O, ☐, Δ on PlayStation 4; X, Y, B, A on Xbox One). A sound effect plays each time a card for which is voted.
Cards which get five points reach the "Epic" status. A sound effect is played and the announcer says "Epic." Cards which get ten points reach the "Legendary" status. A sound effect is played and the announcer says "Legendary." After a card has reached "Epic" or "Legendary" status, the hero who was on the card says a specific voice line.
If a card of you shows up at the end of a game, your "Card" statistic in your Career Profile increases.
A "ding" noise, which differs from the usual noise played when someone votes for a card, will be played when someone votes for their own card. The sound can only be heard by other players, not the self-voting player. Right now, the self-voting noise does not work as it is supposed to do, but randomly chimes itself.
Patch changes[]
February 28, 2017Patch:Fixed a bug that allowed commendation cards to be recalculated and transferred to a new player after the previous recipient left at the end of a round.
November 15, 2016Patch:Fixed a bug preventing players from receiving credit toward the Most Healing Done commendation.
October 19, 2016Patch:Fixed a bug preventing players from receiving credit towards the Healing Done commendation when healing D.Va's mech.
October 11, 2016Patch:Certain commendations will now appear less frequently during end-of-round voting, and others will appear more frequently.
September 1, 2016Patch:Fixed a bug that allowed the kill participation metric to go above 100 percent.
July 19, 2016Patch:Certain commendations will now appear less frequently during end-of-round voting (e.g. Zenyatta’s Transcendence Healing and Zarya’s Projected Barriers Applied).
July 6, 2016Patch:A different sound effect is played when a player likes his or her own card.
March 25, 2016 (beta)Patch:End-of-round commendations should now play the proper sounds and VO whenever a player receives five or more votes.
March 22, 2016 (beta)Patch:“Healing Done” has replaced “Final Blows” as an available end-of-match medal. End-of-match commendations have received another tuning pass.
March 10, 2016 (beta)Patch:Fixed an issue that caused the "Most Environmental Kills" commendation to display "Lifetime Environment Kills" as the primary statistic.