◆ Playmat

① Leader

Place your leader here.

② Deck

Place your main deck here facedown.

③ Evolve Deck

Place your evolve deck here facedown.

④ Cemetery

Place destroyed followers/amulets, played spells, and discarded cards here.

⑤ Field

Place amulets and followers here when playing them. Your field holds up to a maximum of 5 cards.

⑥ EX Area

This area acts as a second hand. It holds up to a maximum of 5 cards. Cards in your EX Area can be played like cards in hand (just pay their cost to play them).

⑦ Banished

Place your banished cards here.

⑧ Max Play Points

Mark your maximum number of play points here. You can't have more than 10.

⑨ Remaining Play Points

Keep track of your remaining play points for any given turn here. You can't have more than 10.

◆ Victory Conditions

You win if any of the following conditions are met:

・The enemy leader's defense is reduced to 0.
・Your opponent must draw a card but they have no cards in their deck.
(If both players would win or lose simultaneously, the game ends in a draw.)

◆ Before the Game

① Put your leader card facedown into the leader area. When all players have placed their leader cards, flip them over.

② Both max and remaining play points start at 0. Your leader's defense starts at 20.

③ To choose who plays first, play rock-paper-scissors or roll a dice. The player going second gets 3 Evolution Point cards.

④ Shuffle your deck. Draw 4 cards. This is your starting hand.

⑤ Look at your cards and decide if you want to mulligan (redraw your hand). To mulligan, put your starting hand on the bottom of your deck in any order and draw 4 cards. You may only mulligan once. The player going first decides whether to mulligan first, followed by the player going second.

All players shout a hearty "Shadowverse showdown!"
And then the game begins!

◆ Turn Progression

Turns are split into 3 phases: start phase, main phase, and end phase.

Start Phase

① Add 1 to your max number of play points, then set your remaining play points to the same value.

② Refresh (vertically turn) your engaged (horizontal) cards.

③ Draw a card from your main deck. (The player going first does not draw on their first turn.)

Main Phase

If you have any "at the start of your main phase" abilities, resolve them. Then, perform the following actions any number of times, in any order:

・Play a card

・Use an activated ability

・Attack with a follower

・Evolve a follower

(You may evolve only once per turn.)

End Phase

① Resolve any "at the start of your end phase" abilities.

② Engage (horizontally turn) any number of followers on your field with Ward.

③ At this point, your opponent may play cards with Quick.

④ If you have 8 or more cards in your hand, discard down to 7.

Finally, let your opponent know your turn is over and pass it to them.

To opponent's turn

◆ Main Phase Actions

Playing Cards

Play a card by spending remaining play points equal to the card's cost.
When played, followers and amulets are put directly onto the field. Spells, however, take effect immediately and are then put into your cemetery.

Using Activated Abilities

Activated abilities, denoted by , can be activated by paying their applicable costs (everything before the colon). If a follower's activated ability cost requires you to engage (horizontally turn) it, you may do so the turn it comes into play.

Attacking with Followers

Select a reserved (vertical) follower to attack with.

(Followers can't attack on the turn they come onto the field.)

① Select your attack target: either the enemy leader or an engaged (horizontal) enemy follower.

② Declare your attack and engage your attacking follower.

③ Take care of any Strike abilities, if applicable.

④ At this point, your opponent may play cards with Quick.

If you chose to attack a follower, exchange damage. This means the attacking follower deals damage equal to its attack value to the enemy follower's defense, and vice versa.

※Notes on Tracking Damage

・Follower Damage
Damage is persistent. Place status counters on a follower to indicate damage to its defense. Destroy the follower if its defense reaches 0 or lower.

・Leader Damage
Track damage to your leader's defense with the defense counter.

Evolving Followers

Evolve your followers on the field by paying their evolve cost. After paying, find the evolved version of that follower from your evolve deck and place it on top of that follower.

・After evolving, followers have the stats and abilities of their evolved versions.
・Status counters (damage, buffs, etc.) remain on followers when evolving.
・If a follower is played and then evolved in the same turn, it can attack engaged enemy followers.
(If it was played during the previous turn, it can attack enemy leaders, as normal.)

What to do if evolved followers are moved from the field to other areas:

Place the follower's evolved card on top of your evolve deck facing up. (Faceup followers in the evolve deck are considered removed from the game.)

Example:
Your evolved follower takes lethal damage, dropping its defense to 0. Put the evolved card faceup on your evolve deck. Put its unevolved version in your cemetery.

◆ Keywords