Game Zones
First of all, we'll start with the playing field. I know I should be explaining the rules first, but I think you ought to know what I'm referring to when I say things such as Damage Zone or Drop Zone.
1. Damage Zone
Whenever your Vanguard is attacked, and the attack passes, you will take damage here. 6 damage and you lose the game.
2. Drop Zone
Also known as a discard pile, it is normally located below the deck. Retired rearguards, Guardian cards and Healed Damage go there.
3. Trigger Zone
This is a zone where cards from trigger checks are placed to resolve their effects.
4. Deck
This is where you place your deck. For information on deck building, click here.
5. Front Row
Only the front row (2 rearguard circles and 1 Vanguard circle) can attack.
6. Back Row
Units placed here cannot attack, but can boost, meaning that you can add their power to the attacking unit.
7. Vanguard Circle
This is where your starting Vanguard is placed when the game starts. It can hold multiple cards in a stack, the top card being the Vanguard and the cards below the Vanguard being the Soul. So if you only have one card on the Vanguard circle, you have zero soul.
8. Rearguard Circle(s)
These circles can only hold one card each, and when your rearguards are attacked and the attack hits, they go into the Drop Zone.
9. Guardian Zone
This is where you guard attacks. The cards used to guard will go into the Drop Zone.
Okay so now we're done with the game area :) Take a moment to recall the various zones and places in the game area, it helps.
Let's move on to card components.
1. Grade
This is the Grade of the card. In Vanguard, you will normally find Grade 0, Grade 1, Grade 2 and Grade 3 cards. You must try to reach Grade 3 as soon as possible, for the Twin Drive.
2. Skill Icon
Units have skills according to their grade.
Not Shown: Shield Value
The card above is a Grade 3, and Grade 3s do not have a shield value, meaning that you cannot Guard with them. There are three types of shield values, and they are found on the left side of the card.
This is a 5000 shield, found on most Grade 1 and all Grade 2 units, oh, and draw triggers too.
This is a 10 000 shield, found on all Grade 0 units, except draw triggers, which have a 5000 shield value.
This is a 0 shield, found on some Grade 1 units. Those units are known as sentinels, negates or kanzens, and they are very, very useful. By dropping a card of the same clan as the kanzen and Vanguard, you may completely nullify your opponent's attack on one unit.
Note: You may only run 4 kanzens in one deck.
Some units have flavour text written above the ability text.
4. Card Ability
There are 3 types of card abilities. I've also included the English equivalent of them below.
These abilities can be activated when a certain condition is met or at a certain time (stated on
the card). They are known as automatic abilities.
During your main phase, you may activate the ability by paying the cost written in the [brackets]. You may activate the ability as many times as you want as long as you can pay the
cost. They are known as activated abilities.
If no requirements are specified, this ability remains active as long as the unit is in play. They are known as continuous abilities.
5. Card Name
The name of the card.
6. Base Attack Power
This is the base attacking power of the unit, when no triggers, skills or boosts are active.
7. Critical
This is the amount of damage the unit can deal when its attack hits a Vanguard.
8. Clan
The clan of the unit. In this case, this unit is of the Oracle Think Tank clan.
9. Race
This is more information on the character on the card. For example, this card, Goddess of the Full Moon, Tsukuyomi, is of a Noble race.
Now, we're ready to start the game ^^
Setup: Each player chooses their starting Vanguard (a Grade 0 unit from his/her deck) and lays it face-down on the Vanguard Circle. The deck is then shuffled and placed on the deck area. Then, each player draws 5 cards. If you do not like your current hand, you may redraw up to 5 cards once.
To start the game, both players turn up their starting Vanguards ^^
To win the game, you must successfully deal your opponent 6 damage, meaning that if they have 6 cards in their damage zone, they lose and you win :) The game can also end when there are zero cards in one player's deck. This is called decking out, and the player who decks out will lose.
I shall now go into the various stages of the game.
Stand Phase
All of your rested units return to the stand position.
Rested units look like this
Standing units look like this
However, some units cannot return to Stand position if they are prevented from doing so by a skill. More information about that will be provided later.
Draw Phase
Draw one card from the top of your deck and add it to your hand.
(Note: If you draw the last card of your deck, you deck out and lose.)
Ride Phase
You may place a card from your hand on top of your Vanguard. The card can be of the same grade or a grade higher than your current Vanguard. You can only ride once a turn, and it is optional.
There are some cards that let you ride them from the Deck, Hand or Drop Zone. This is called superior riding, which I will cover later on.
Main Phase
There are many things to do in this phrase, though you do not have to do them if you do not want to.
-Call
Place a unit that is the same grade as or a grade lower than your Vanguard in a Rearguard circle. This unit is placed in the Stand position, and can attack if it is in the front row. You can call a unit onto an already occupied Rearguard circle, but you have to retire the current rearguard first by moving it to the Drop Zone.
Some cards allow you to call a unit from the Deck, Soul, Drop Zone or Damage Zone. This is called Superior Calling, and will be touched on later.
-Moving Rearguards
You can move rearguards from the Front Row to the Back Row. They cannot move from side to side and cannot move in and out of the Vanguard Circle. Note that Rearguards in the same column can switch places.
-Activating Card Abilities
Card abilities that state that they can be used in the main phrase can be used here. When you have activated all the abilities you can, the main phrase ends and the Battle Phase begins.
Note: Once you start the Battle Phase, you can no longer go back to the Main Phase, so make sure you finish activating all the skills you want to activate and call/move the rearguards you want.
Battle Phase
Now, you can attack with the Standing units in the front row. You can attack as many times as you wish, as long as you have units to attack.
To Attack:
In order to attack, choose a standing unit in the front row, put it to rest, and choose one of the opponent's front row units to be attacked, unless otherwise stated on the card.
To Boost:
To increase the power of your attacks, you should call units to boost the attacking unit. Units with a boost icon (see below picture) are able to boost the units directly in front of them. To boost, rest the boosting unit and add its attack power to the unit directly in front of it.
Guarding:
If you just sit there and take all your opponent's attacks, you'll be at 6 damage in no time, so you have to guard the attacks with the cards in your hand. You may call any amount of cards from your hand, as long as they have a shield value, to protect the unit(s) under attack. The Guardians must be of the same grade or of a lower grade as your Vanguard. In addition, Grade 2s have the skill "Intercept" (see icon below), which lets Grade 2 rearguards in the front row move to the Guardian Zone to help guard attacks. Just like normal Guardians, they will be retired to the Drop Zone at the end of the battle.
<-- Intercept IconNote: You cannot Intercept with a Grade 2 Vanguard.
Drive Check:
If you have attacked with your Vanguard, you may perform a Drive Trigger Check, by revealing the top card of your deck and placing it in the trigger zone. If the card is a trigger unit, and at least one unit of the clan of the trigger unit is on the field, it will be activated. After resolving the effects, add the card to your hand, regardless on whether it is a trigger or not.
All trigger units let you add +5000 power to any unit on the field until the end of your turn. You can add the power to your Vanguard for additional power, or to rearguards to give them an additional boost. You may separate the trigger effects.
Note: You may give the +5000 to one unit, and the effect to another, but cannot split the +5000 and give, let's say, +1000 to one unit and +4000 to another.
There are four types of triggers that give you other effects besides the +5000.
Critical- You may add one critical to any unit on the field until the end of the turn, meaning that the unit can deal one more damage if that unit's attack hits.
Heal- If the number of cards in your damage zone is equal to or more than your opponents, you may heal one of them, putting the selected card (any card) into the drop zone.
Stand- You can select one of your resting rearguards and stand it, letting you attack or boost one more time.
Draw- You may draw an additional card from the top of your deck.
If your Vanguard has the Twin Drive icon (see picture below), you may perform a total of 2 Drive Checks. Take note that the first trigger must be resolved before you perform the second Drive Check.
<-- Twin Drive IconNote: Only the attacking Vanguard may perform drive check(s).
Determining the Outcome of the Battle
Compare the attacking power of the unit that is attacking and the unit that is being attacked, plus the shield value of the opponent's guardians, if he/she called any. If the power of both of them is the same, or if the power of the attacking unit is higher, the attack passes, if not, it does not.
If the unit that was attacked is a rearguard, it is retired to the Drop Zone. If the opponent's Vanguard was attack, they may perform a Damage Trigger Check, by flipping over the top card of their deck and placing it into the Trigger Zone. For each critical the opponent's unit has, you have to take 1 damage. After the trigger effects are resolved (like Drive Checks, you must resolve one before you check another), move the card(s) into the Damage Zone.
Note: If the opponent's rearguard is being attacked, your attacking unit's critical does not matter.
Ending the Attack Phase
Now, Guardians that were called (including intercepting units) are moved to the Drop Zone. If there are units in the front row that can still attack, declare your target and repeat this phrase.
End Phase
Declare the end of your turn, and now it's your opponent's turn.
Okay that's all for the Basic Guide :) There will be another guide explaining cards and game mechanics soon ^^ I hope this is useful~
~Eclipse
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