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These are the official tournament rules for the game! Tournaments always take place within the Base Set (set 1) ruleset, though Base Set Second Revision (Set 2) and above rules are avaliable. This is how it's intended to be played, but of course, variations are always fun!
Any set is allowed. Here is the banned card list. You may use a maximum of 4 copies of a card in a 40 card deck. A halfsize deck consists of 20 cards, can only contain a max of 3 copies of a card, and follows the same rules.
Shuffle your deck and then set aside 2 piles of 7 cards. Opponent chooses one and vice versa. Put the non-chosen pile at the bottom of your deck, and of the other pile, place 4 cards face-down as y our bench. The other 3 are your hand, and throughout the game your hand should not be revealed to your opponent unless a card says to. If no Ambush card is in your hand or bench, take all 7 cards and place them at the bottom of your deck, drawing 7 more and repeating the process. Repeat until you draw an Ambush card. Once both players have done this, place an ambush in the Active card slot, flip the cards on your bench face up, and roll a die. Higher roller goes first.
There are 3 turns per round, and each turn you can do any action, instant, or stall. You are not allowed to shuffle your discard pile. When discarding, discard to the top of your discard pile, cards face-up. If you have no Ambush card in your hand or bench at the start of a round, you have 10 tries to draw one from the top card of your deck for the next round. Whoever wins the round gets a round point, and the first person to 40 points wins.
The 20 rule goes into place when the defending player has less than 20 over the sum of their power. For example, one player has 42 power, another has 12. 42-12 is 30, 30-20 is 10. So the person with 12 starts the next round with -10 power. The new ambush card is then added to that. A player can either choose to take the power nerf, OR lose one round point.
Instants
Instants are any action that can be played at any time regardless of turn. This can include:
Stalls
Stalls are any action that take up a turn. This can include:
Ambush
Ambush cards are the main attacking card, and are the only card to be set in the active card slot. Ambush cards cannot be attached to other Ambush cards.
Stage
Stage cards can affect one or both players. Only one can be in play at a time between opponents, and they play across rounds. If a Stage is in play, the person who played it can replace it for the cost of 6 power for that round, or if the opponent played it, it can be replaced at the cost of 12 power for that round. You may not play this card if it's condition puts you below 1 power.
Shield
Shield cards are one of the cards that can be attached to the active Ambush card. Shield cards give a benefit at the cost of power. You may not play this card if it's condition puts you below 1 power.
Stamina
Shield cards are the other type of cards that can be attached to the active Ambush card. Shield cards give power at the cost of a disadvantage.
Support
Support cards never take up a turn and are played straight to the discard pile. If a Support card's condition calls to ressurect a card, you may not use it to ressurect another Support card.
The game ends and a person loses when they run out of Ambush cards to play, the opponent reaches 15 round points first, they start a round with -40 power or less, or they fail to draw an Ambush card between rounds within 6 tries.