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I think a tag of optional level/side quest will help with the Phantom level, but if possible, I'd see about adjusting the level select indicator for it as well. Giving a bit more distance, or maybe a color change to the circle. Something to stand out more right from the start so players see it as different and are more likely to pay attention to the fact that it is bonus and the story ends with the third level. The way it transitioned it felt like it could be part of the story. Possibly this new thing might be something to gain for your fight against the invading forces. Like it was a step along the way to that big fight we just saw.

For the cards, I think they need some rebalancing. The new ones could be interesting, but when evaluating things they just did not pay off for me. I am a very logical person. While I enjoy story, when I it comes to picking my party and equipment, I get into the details. I want to know everything and go with the most effective combo for my play style. One issue for me in picking some cards was the unknowns. In a future play I may experiment more, but for the first time through I wanted to win without losing any ships. That limited some experimentation. If I wasn't sure on how an ability worked, and wasn't sure I could calculate its damage/effectiveness, I skipped it. This included things like the Sniper line and Fuel Shot. How does distance get converted into damage? How much fuel does each ship have? I also had this issue with the Flower, as mentioned in my other comments. After seeing it used, I was willing to try it, as it looked really cool and powerful, but the card art and description made me think it worked differently, and I wasn't willing to risk it before seeing it in use. Self-destruct was never on my list to even consider using.

Side note here, maybe add a testing mode/shooting range for players to try out the abilities and see how they work.

I mainly focused on dealing damage. In some games I go all out on a turtle defense style, in others I like to hit hard and take the enemy out before they can hurt me, so there is no need to heal. In this game I went with win fast and limit getting hit. I also like to be prepared for everything I can. I started picking cards based on doing damage, then added some healing and support. The support ship was hard to aim, but had an extra point of energy per turn, so it got 2 abilities to pass that energy on to another ship that I could better aim. It also gave it attacks that spread out to make up for aiming issues, especially as I got more tired. While picking abilities I also wanted to have a good mix. I liked the multi-hit straight ones, especially Double Attack costing 0, and Triple Attack only costing 1. I feel like the Triple Attack costing the same as the basic Shotgun makes the Shotgun significantly less appealing. With the way aiming works, the Shotgun line is hard to use to really hit several targets, so aiming straight and guaranteeing that if you hit, all shots hit, is the better option. Only for the Support ship with its harder aiming did the Shoutgun make more sense for me, and even then, I did not use it much.

I largely broke the weapons down into lasers, which were vital for penetrating shields, basic/straight projectiles, shotguns, and other. As mentioned before, the Blast Gun was hands down my favorite weapon. It could hit multiple enemies, get around shields, and do good damage. The cost was also low enough that I could use it often. I put it on the Assassin ship, and then had the Support ship keep giving it an energy boost so I could use it more often. As much as I loved using it, I think it may be overpowered as is, and should probably have the cost increased to 3. Instead of higher cost, it could maybe get the damage amount dropped down.

Once I learned about how the Flower line worked, I also liked them. With it covering a wide area, it also worked as a good alternative to using a Shotgun. The base Flower cost more for equal projectiles in a Shotgun, but going straight meant more could hit from greater range. Once you get the second Flower, the shotgun really loses most value. The only Shotgun I gave any value to was the Bounty Shotgun. The cost of 2 with the spread giving me a better chance of hitting made it a decent choice for the Support when I needed to use it to finish an enemy. The 5 shots over the 3 of the 2 cost Tri Laser helped with the accuracy concern. If there were more options at the 2 cost tier I'd have considered them over the shotgun. I think the split Lasers suffer from the same issue as the Shotguns. The aiming can be tough, and from a distance you are not likely to hit multiple targets, or multiple times on the same enemy. This may be intended to encourage getting up close with them, but why? Why would I get close and use a Shotgun, or split Laser, when there are so many options that let me do just as much damage, for similar cost, from further away?

I think the Shotguns need an overhaul to make them feel worth getting closer to use. They need to be more powerful than the equivalent non-Shotgun options. At the low end we have the 0 cost Double Attack and 1 cost Triple Attack vs the 1 cost Shotgun. What benefit does the Shotgun offer over those? It spreads a bit, which can increase the chance of hitting if your aim is off, but aim is vital, so for most ships I think in terms of having decent accuracy. Also, if I am relying on the spread to hit, then that is accepting that I may be doing less damage for any missed shots, lessening the value equation somewhat. At 3 cost the 7 projectiles of the Shotgun over 6 of Hexa Shot does offer some boost, though at 4 cost, they are equal and straight wins for me. Back down at 3 cost we now have the Flower line. I did not use the 3 cost one, and looking at it, the 5 projectiles vs 6 or 7 alternatives just discussed doesn't seem as good. Having not used it enough, maybe the way it moves would balance out, but that would need more testing. Once we get to 4 cost the Remorse Flower with 12 projectiles dominates the Nona Shot and Destroyer alternatives with only 9. The Shotgun line also stops at 4, while the Flower line gets the 5 cost 16 projectile. Of course that is from the bonus fight, and I'm not sure the extra energy is worth the slight bump. I'll quickly bring this back to the Blast Gun, and compare the 2 cost Shotgun to it. Shotgun has 5 projectiles doing 1 point each. The Blast Gun is 4 damage per target. If hitting 1 target, the Shotgun does 1 extra. If you hit 2 or more targets, the Blast Gun totally dominates on damage. Now, the Blast Gun does require more accuracy to hit, so that can impact the equation.

Next I'll move on to Lasers. The Shotguns also need to compare to these, but they have their own pros and cons, so I'll center the focus here on them with mentions relating to Shotguns. The basic 1 cost Laser is a good low cost way to hit through shields, or when the enemies line up. I equipped the Tri laser for a while, but didn't really use it, and now consider it to be less desirable. It has the same split negatives as the Shotgun, though suffers a bit more here. The pro of the Laser line is penetration, so you often want to line things up, and may be further away from the target due to the shield. That is going to reduce the chance of multiple hitting the same target, and also trying to get all split beams to hit feels more challenging. The only one of the split Lasers that felt useful to me was the Doom Cannon, and part of that comes from it doing 2 damage per hit. Of course its high cost makes it unreasonable for general use. I viewed it as a boss fight weapon used with the Special to give full energy. The lasers costing 1 more than the equivalent number of projectiles Shotgun works well for the balance of it having penetration.

Now, once we move from the split Lasers to the multi-beam straight Lasers, things change. The Laser of Lament was nice. At 3 cost it only did 3 beams, but each was 2 damage, allowing up to 6 damage per target if all 3 hit. Going straight it was easier to hit a single target, especially from a safe distance. The 3 cost Shotgun has 7 projectiles, so slightly higher potential for a single target, but the penetration means the Laser can hit multiple enemies, and pierce shields. Also with only 3 beams and 2 damage each, each hit does more, so if you only hit once you get more, while losing some chance to hit. This cost benefit gets even more in its favor when you compare to the 3 cost split Laser which only has 5 beams/max damage. The Phantom Ray is a decent step up from this, but being at end game I did not use it.

The Assassin being in the middle also meant that I gave it the AOE heal, which otherwise would have gone to the Support. I know they can move around in combat, so debated putting the heal on Support, but where I generally placed them in combat, this felt the best. I also did not do much in combat healing, so treated it more as a backup/safety net.

I did not use any Aim cards as they did not feel worth the extra turn to use for the benefit. Partly this was a self imposed requirement that I should just get good myself, rather than using some of these as a crutch. Also, these work on an ally, when I'd be more likely to want the Support to have them to improve it own accuracy. The Sniper's Vision could have use for dealing with obstructions, but that is what Lasers are for.

Gaining and transferring Energy was useful with the Support ship having 2 energy but tough aiming. I did try to improve my aim skill with it, but transferring the energy and using higher power stuff sooner ended up working well. The 0 Energy Recharge Ally was a great opening move for me, setting up for a powerful move on the next turn, especially paired with Energy Infusion. That gave The Assassin ship its max 4 Energy on turn 2, allowing the use of most cards. This felt like a great use of the Support role for me. Even better, with the Support gaining 2 Energy per turn, and this opening only using 1, on turn 3 the Support had 3 Energy and could then do a decent attack move itself, such as Laser of Lament.

Healing I did not use much. I went with "the best defense is a good offense". I had Band Aid for occasional help, but almost never used it. The Pravarshan was a nice addition, but I never actually ended up using it. The main heal I used was Uplifting Aura. The lower cost of 3, and getting it early enough, meant it had more chance to be used. In the future I may test these out more and find a better set for me, but in general I want to get better at not getting hit instead.

I only got 2 "Other" category cards. The Plasma Shield sounded cool, and at 3 is reasonably priced. I almost used it once, but then ended up just hitting the enemy hard and never felt the need for it. The revive is nice to have, but again, with my refusal to lose a ship, and its high cost of 5, I felt it was not practical to equip. Unlocking cards to write this up I looked at some others. The Therapeutic Grapple looks nice, though the current 0 cost would be way too low and make it feel overpowered. I'm guessing that was added for testing and not meant to be in the main game.

Okay, hope that wasn't too rambly. There was more going on in my head, but I think this covers the most important, and easiest to explain, parts.

One other note, it looks like the "Assassin" ship is spelled "Assasin" (missing an "s").