Cards

Card types, ranks, attributes, the stat line, Leaders, and how to read a card's text.

CodexChapter 2 of 18Rules for game version 0.4.0

Contents

2.1Card types

  1. 2.1.1

    Every card has one of five types.

    1. Soul: a fighter with ATK, DEF and HP. Souls are recruited onto soul slots (10.1).
    2. Event: a one-time effect, cast by one of your Souls (10.2).
    3. Armament: equipment that lies under a Soul and adds its values to the Soul's (10.3).
    4. Ambush: a trap, set face down at a Soul's slot and sprung later (10.4).
    5. Realm: a place with its own values, invoked onto a realm slot (10.5).

2.2Rank

  1. 2.2.1

    Every card has a rank from 0 to 3. The higher the rank, the stronger the card, and the higher the slot it needs.

  2. 2.2.2

    Where a card may go depends on rank: a Soul needs a slot whose highest rank is at least the Soul's (5.3.1); an Event, Armament or Ambush needs a Soul standing on a slot whose rank is at least the card's (7.2.3); a Realm needs a realm slot of at least its rank (10.5.1).

  3. 2.2.3

    Rank also decides Unyielding: it protects only against effects whose source has the same rank as the Unyielding Soul or a lower one (13.6.3).

2.3Attribute

  1. 2.3.1

    Every card has an attribute: Light (the Ethereal side) or Dark (the Nefarious side).

  2. 2.3.2

    Light and Dark are each other's opposite. "The opposite Attribute" of a Light card is Dark, and of a Dark card Light.

  3. 2.3.3

    A deck may mix both attributes freely (3.1.4). Attributes matter only where a card asks about them.

2.4The stat line

  1. 2.4.1

    Souls, Armaments and Realms have a stat line: ATK (attack), DEF (defence; cards also call it Shield) and HP (hit points). Events and Ambushes have none.

  2. 2.4.2

    A Soul's values are its printed values, plus those of its Armament (10.3.3), plus every bonus and penalty from effects.

  3. 2.4.3

    A card's maximum HP is its HP value after all of this. Its current HP is its maximum HP minus the damage it has taken. Neither goes below 0.

  4. 2.4.4

    Effects may raise or lower ATK and DEF; the values may even drop below 0. Battle damage still never goes below 0 (9.4.1).

  5. 2.4.5

    When a Soul's current HP reaches 0 it is captured; when a Realm's does, it shatters (14.4).

2.5Leaders and rarity

  1. 2.5.1

    A card with the label Leader is a Leader. Every Leader is a Soul; at present all of them are rank 3.

  2. 2.5.2

    Each duel begins with each player choosing one Leader from their deck (6.1.1). The Leader stands on the altar for the whole duel and never leaves it (15.4.1).

  3. 2.5.3

    A Leader card that was not chosen at the start is recruited like any other Soul of its rank: it can be returned or teleported, and its capture does not end the duel. It still has the label Leader, so card text about "your Leader" applies to it too: Sanctuary of First Light and Ilse reach it, and Crimson Rite can't target it.

  4. 2.5.4

    Rarity (Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary) is about collecting. It has no effect on play.

2.6Reading card text

  1. 2.6.1

    A line in the card's text names the kind of effect: Activated, Static, Instant or Timing (11.1). Keyword lines (such as "Reinforcement:") stand for the kind the keyword has.

  2. 2.6.2

    Limits stand next to the kind: "1/Turn" means once per turn, "2/Game" twice per duel (11.7).

  3. 2.6.3

    The parts of an effect are labelled. Each label is explained in its own glossary entry.

    1. Condition: what must be true to use the effect, checked when it is used (11.3).
    2. Caster or Ambusher: which Soul may cast this Event or spring this Ambush (11.2.2).
    3. Target: what the effect is aimed at, chosen when it is used (11.4).
    4. Cost: what must be paid, paid just before the effect resolves (11.5).
    5. Effect: what happens.
  4. 2.6.4

    Text in parentheses explains a keyword or a term. It is a reminder and never changes what the card does.

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