First, you will not be ranked until you have played at least 10 games in the Drums of War lobby.

This value (Rating) is created as a running total of the games you have played, and how well you should have done against a player of the rating that you played. Ratings start at 1000 and go up to 3000, and down to 0. This number can reasonably be thought of as the skill level of the player you are playing against. When two players start playing a game, a percentage value is calculated which determines how each player should fare against the other player. At the end of the game, that Expected Winning Value is then multiplied by your Winning Value, *(that's 0 for a loss, 1 for a win). That value is then multiplied by your bracket value (K). The bracket value (K) is the total number of points you can shift from a game.

Brackets are as follows:
Rating < 2100, K = 32
Rating 2100 - 2400, K = 24
Rating > 2400, K = 16

This means that when two players have a round, their ranking determines how much the round is "worth" on a scale of 0 to K. A game between two players of equal rank is "worth" 1/2 K. So at 1000, two players will be playing for 16 points. The winner will go up in rating by 16, and the loser will go down by 16. If someone is ranked 3000, and they are playing someone rated 1000, then the lower player can win 32 points, while the loser can lose 16. However, while the 3000 player can LOSE up to 16 they can only win 1 point, and the lower rated player can only lose up to 1 point, but can win up to 32.

Ranking changes are reflected/updated every 24 hours.

*The current ranking system will pair you with an opponent in the queue as close to your rank as possible. When you go into the Drums of War lobby and attempt to get a match, you will be put into a queue; the system will search the queue for other players close to your rank. If there are no players close to your rank, it will wait a minute or so to see if an evenly-matched player enters the queue. If after 4 minutes it still cannot find a player with a similar match, it will match you with a player as close as possible.