Learn the game. Then see it happen.

1. Goal & Party

Each player controls a party of 3 Heroes: one Support, one Attacker, and one Tank. All three begin on the battlefield. Each Hero has their own HP, DEF, Profession, Class, Passive, READY/USED state, Mastery, and any Level 2 Path information they earn.

Win by defeating all 3 opposing Heroes. You do not attack a separate player health total.

2. Setup

• Choose your Support, Attacker, and Tank.
• All three Heroes begin at full HP and on the battlefield.
• Draw an opening hand of 7 cards.
• Once during setup, you may take one full mulligan: return all 7 and draw a replacement hand of 7. The replacement hand is kept.

3. Rounds & 12 Shared AP

• At the start of a Round, each team has 12 shared AP.
• Surviving Heroes return to READY.
• Beginning with Round 2, normal replenishment draws toward a hand of 7 cards.
• Unused AP does not carry into the next Round.
• The player who acts first alternates from Round to Round.

4. Action Opportunities

Players alternate Action Opportunities. During yours, you may do the following in this order:

• First: play up to one Immediate Tactic. This part is optional.
• Let the Immediate Tactic resolve completely.
• Then: take up to one Hero action with one eligible READY Hero. This part is also optional.
• When you are done, end the opportunity and control passes to the opponent.

You cannot play a second Immediate Tactic during the same Action Opportunity. Playing a Tactic first does not consume the Hero action that may follow.

5. Hero Actions & READY / USED

A Hero action is one of three things:

• Perform one legal Technique from hand.
• Reuse one legal Technique from that Hero's Active Mastery Loadout.
• Use that Hero's legal Basic Action.

Pay the AP cost, choose any required legal targets, resolve the action, then that Hero becomes USED. A surviving Hero normally performs only one Hero action per Round. USED does not mean defeated; it only means that Hero has already taken their Hero action for this Round.

Basic Actions are fallback actions and do not grant Mastery.

6. Cards, Performers & Targets

Your hand is shared by the team. A Technique is performed through an eligible Hero, not directly by you as a player.

• The arena identifies which cards are currently legal.
• After you choose a Technique, the arena identifies which Heroes can perform it.
• Then it identifies the legal target or targets required by that Technique.
• A card's printed effect determines whether it targets an enemy, ally, another ally, multiple Heroes, or another special set of legal targets.

Technique access can be tied to a native Hero, a Class, or a specific teachable access rule. Printed Class does not change when a Hero reaches Level 2.

7. Damage, Healing, DEF & Protection

Damage & DEF

Damage is applied to an individual Hero. DEF and any applicable reductions are used when resolving damage. Damaging effects normally deal at least 1 damage after reductions unless an effect fully prevents the damage or explicitly permits 0.

Healing

Healing restores HP to an eligible Hero but cannot raise that Hero above maximum HP.

Shielded

Shielded blocks the next attack that would deal damage, then the Shielded state is removed.

Poisoned

When Poisoned is applied, it lasts for 2 End Phases. At each End Phase while Poisoned, that Hero loses 2 HP, then the remaining duration decreases by one. Some effects can prevent or remove Poisoned.

Protection & interception

Guard and Tank tools may reduce damage, grant DEF, Shield an ally, redirect an attack, or intercept damage depending on the Technique. The exact card text controls the effect.

8. Mastery & the 3 Active Slots

Qualifying Level 1 Techniques that a Hero actually performs can become that Hero's Mastery. A qualifying use must resolve legally and create a real game-state effect.

• The first qualifying copy of a named Level 1 Technique can be recorded in that Hero's Mastery Kit.
• Each Hero can have up to 3 Techniques equipped in the Active Mastery Loadout.
• An equipped Technique can be reused from Active Mastery by paying its normal legal AP cost and using that Hero's action.
• Reusing a mastered Technique does not require drawing another copy from hand.

3-skill refresh cycle

When a Hero has 3 Active Mastery skills, using ready skill A, then a different ready skill B, then the third ready skill C spends all three; after C resolves, all 3 refresh. A Hero with only 1 or 2 Active skills does not receive a shortened automatic refresh cycle.

9. Level 2 Development

Mastery determines which Level 2 paths a Hero has earned.

• Two differently named qualifying Level 1 Masteries with the same symbol — Support, Attack, or Guard — make the matching Level 2 path eligible.
• When a path is chosen, its persistent Path Passive becomes active immediately.
• The path's two Level 2 Techniques enter the shared Main Deck as 2 copies of each Technique — 4 cards total.
• A Hero may delay an eligible Level 2 choice and choose later.
• Leveling does not change the Hero's printed Class.

10. Hero Defeat & Rebalance

A Hero is defeated when it reaches 0 HP. Defeated Heroes no longer take actions. After an allied Hero is defeated, your surviving party may receive a Rebalance opportunity.

• You may choose one surviving Hero to Rebalance, or decline.
• That Hero can switch only to an alternate Level 2 Path it had already earned from existing Level 1 Mastery.
• A Hero can Rebalance no more than once per game.
• Rebalance never grants unearned Mastery and never changes printed Class.
• The old and new Path's Level 2 cards are exchanged through that Hero's Level Reserve, and the Active Mastery loadout is rebuilt using the earned path's qualifying Masteries plus an eligible flexible third mastered Technique when available.

11. Victory & Timing

Defeat all 3 enemy Heroes to win. If an effect or timing step can create multiple results together, finish resolving that timing step before the game completes the victory check.

At the end of a Round, End Phase effects resolve, Round-based effects expire as appropriate, the next Round begins, AP refreshes, surviving Heroes become READY, and normal hand replenishment occurs.

12. Quick Glossary