Aside from all the previous steps and understanding of the cards themselves, combat carries its own set of mini-phases and interactions that affect the flow of the game. Furthermore, combat is quintessential in the fact that it is the main source of stock gain and dealing damage to your opponent to secure the win.
Combat works in four phases:
- Declaration Phase
- Trigger Phase
- Damage Phase
- Power Check/Resolution Phase
Each of these phases carries their own set of complex rulings. As such, each phase will be discussed in detail which will hopefully combine at the end together to provide an overall understanding of how combat works.
Declaration Phase – Declaration phase is essentially the timing in which you declare an attack from one of your cards towards the card that the declaring attacker is facing or an open lane. Attack style, separate from attack declaration, is decided at the moment the turn player decides to commit the attack and has three modes. Upon declaration of attack, the player must rest/side the character (turn the character 90 degrees).
- Frontal Attack – This is the most common attack mode by which the attacking card will attack the opposing card directly in front of it. No soul damage is deducted during this attack, and the attacker will deal full damage.
- Side Attack – The attacker will focus on attacking around the target, dealing damage equal to the soul number on the attacker subtracting the level of the target being attacked. When this attack occurs, the attacker evades combat directly, so no power check is considered.
- Direct Attack – The attacker directly attacks the opponent due to the lack of a defender in front. As such, the attacker gains an additional soul damage during this attack. No power check is considered at all since there is no defender.
When attack declaration and style are decided, the attack will proceed forward with the other phases. The turn player cannot rescind their decision once they have declared both declaration and style.
Trigger Phase – During trigger phase, the turn player reveals the top card of their deck and adds the soul/effect icon in the top right corner of the revealed card to their attacker. After the trigger is revealed, any backup effects from the opponent can be activated assuming their conditions are met and resolved in order. In the case of a dispute, the turn player’s effects always activate first. Revealed effects are resolved and then damage is calculated in the following phase.
Resolved triggers are then placed into the stock zone face-down and considered to be stock to pay for stock costs.
Damage Phase – In this phase, the opposing player will take damage which is equivalent to the amount of soul damage dealt by the attacker by revealing cards equal to the amount of soul damage from the top of their deck. For instance, if the soul damage calculated by the attacker is three, the opponent will reveal the top three cards of their deck one by one.
Now two conditions will occur. If the opposing player reveals a climax during any reveals while taking damage from the top of their deck, the damage is negated immediately and any card revealed, including the climax, will be sent directly to the waiting room. Alternatively, if no climax is revealed, the opposing player will place all cards into their clock in chronological order of their reveals.
If at any point, if the number of cards in the clock zone is equal to seven or more, the player must immediately place a card from the first chronological seven cards into the level zone, send the rest of the six into the waiting room, and then place the excess cards on top of the fresh clock (if there is any). This applies out of combat phase as well.
Damage calculation is straight forward depending on the attack style declared by the attacker. If the attack is a frontal attack, the opposing player takes full damage equal to the soul of the attacker plus the potential damage from the triggered card. However, if the style of attack is different, the soul damage changes depending on the scenario.
- If the attack is a side attack, the opposing card deducts soul damage while including soul damage gained from the trigger by the level of the character it is facing. The final calculated damage is the resulting soul damage. (Note: If the calculated damage is less than 0, the damage is considered to be 0 and no damage occurs)
- If the attack is a direct attack, an additional soul plus the potential soul damage from the trigger is added to the total soul damage.
Power Check/Resolution Phase – After soul damage is accounted for and the opposing player has taken their damage, this phase begins. Only during this step does power comparison take place along with combat effects. Three different scenarios can take place.
- If the attacking character’s power is higher after all effect calculations than the defending character’s power, the attacking character wins and the defending character becomes reversed (turned to face the turn player)
- If the attacking character’s power is equal to the defending player after all effect calculations, both characters lose the fight and are reversed (both are turned to face opposing players)
- If the attacking character’s power is lower after all effect calculations than the defending character’s power, the attacking character loses and becomes reversed (turned to face the opposing player)
It is also during this step where combat effects are considered. Power calculation always takes place first as a priority, however, effects can still alter the results. For example, cards that cannot be reversed by cards that have no costs exist. If a card with no cost attacks said card and after damage calculation, even if the attacking card had higher power, neither would be reversed resulting in a stalemate. Alternatively, cards exist which reverse the opposing card if they were to be reversed, meaning even after power calculation, both the opposing and the defending card will be reversed.
Further important rulings that are a part of combat:
In scenarios where the defending player’s character escapes from combat during the trigger phase, the attack style does not change and still considers the attack style the same as the one declared at the start of the attack (the attack is still a frontal attack). The defender in this case is considered to have 0 power but while still existing on the field with the same level as well.
If the attacker is removed at any time preceding the damage step, the attack is considered to have never existed. The attacking player will still receive the stock from the declared attack during the trigger phase, however, no soul damage will be dealt or power check be conducted.