Keeper of the Cards

Rulebook (13^th Edition)

Keeper of the Cards is a trading card game, loosely inspired by elements from various popular trading card games you may be familiar with. The primary distinguishing factor of Keeper of the Cards, however, is that you don't just trade cards; you create cards.

Unlike other trading card games, there are no official cards for Keeper of the Cards. Instead, there are official effect components that can be used for cards and official rules for calculating the cost of playing any given card. These rules are laid out separately in the Card Building Guide.

This document, on the other hand, serves to explain the rules of the game.

Card Types and Layout

There are 2 types of cards in Keeper of the Cards: minions, and spells. Here are some examples of both:

The card on the left is a minion, and the card on the right is a spell. They are visually very similar; the only noteworthy difference is that spells have a pair of triangles instead of the additional elements found on a minion.

The elements marked on the cards are:

1. The name of the card. This is purely cosmetic and has no effect on the game.
2. The card image. This is purely cosmetic and has no effect on the game.
3. The ability text of the card.
4. Edition Indicator indicating the edition of the game the card was designed for.
5. The level of the card.
6. The flavor text of the card. This is purely cosmetic and has no effect on the game.
7. The SP of the card.
8. The HP of the card.

Setup and Deck Building

Prior to starting a game of Keeper of the Cards, you must assemble a deck. The deck must contain 40–60 cards. All cards must look the same from the back (this can be achieved by using sleeves if necessary). Other than that, there are no restrictions on what legal cards you can put in your deck.

You can find preëxisting sets of example cards, as well as instructions for how to print them, in the Starter Set.

Before each game, shuffle your deck. You begin the game with 35 HP, which you can note on a piece of paper or thru some other counter. Draw 5 cards; to draw a card is to take the topmost card from your deck and add that card to your hand. Once, optionally, you may then bury – place on the bottom of your deck in any order – any number of cards in your hand, then draw a number of cards equal to the number of cards buried.

You should have a reasonable amount of six-sided dice (preferably at least 10–20 dice), and some objects such as coins or poker chips to use as counters. You must also determine who goes first. One suggested method is for each player to roll 2 six-sided dice and for the player with the highest roll to go first.

Keeper of the Cards can be played by 2 or more players. There is theoretically no limit, but it is recommended to keep the number of players small, preferably between 2 and 8. In the case of a game with more than 2 players, each player works alone with their own HP and field.

Fields

Each player has a field: a designated area where cards are played, divided into several distinct zones which each have a specific purpose. Each zone's contents are classified as either public knowledge, in which case all players are entitled to know what cards are in the zone; private knowledge, in which case all players are entitled to know the number of cards in the zone, but only its owner is entitled to know what cards are in the zone; or restricted knowledge, in which case all players are entitled to know the number of cards in the zone, but no player (not even its owner) is entitled to know what cards are in the zone. The zones are as follows:

• Deck: Typically below the grave, to the right of the granary. The contents of the deck are restricted knowledge.
• Grave: Typically above the deck, to the right of the battlefield. Any card which is destroyed is immediately sent here, face-down. The contents of the grave are private knowledge.
• Battlefield: Typically above the granary, to the left of the grave. Contains its owner's in-play minions. The contents of the battlefield are public knowledge.
• Granary: Typically below the battlefield. Contains its owner's resources. The contents of the granary are private knowledge.
• Hand: Typically held in the hand. Contains the cards its owner currently has available to play. The contents of the hand are private knowledge.

Turn Order

Each turn in Keeper of the Cards consists of the following phases:

1. Draw Phase: Draw 1 card.
   • Special exception: on the first turn of the game, the player who goes first skips this phase.
2. Resource Phase: You may optionally sow 1 resource. A resource is sowed by placing any card from your hand into the granary unexhausted (oriented vertically) and face-down.
3. Action Phase: You may play any cards from your hand that you are able to, and you may also activate in-play minion abilities. See Minions and Spells for more information.
4. Battle Phase: You may do battle with your unexhausted minions. See Battles for more information.
5. Recovery Phase: Every in-play card and every resource (for all players) is unexhausted. Every in-play minion has its SP, HP, and level reset to the respective values printed on the card (reversing any damage or stat changes due to card abilities).

Exhaustion and Recovery

Exhausted, for any card, means that the card cannot currently be used; this is marked by having the card in a horizontal (sideways) orientation. By contrast, unexhausted means that the card can currently be used; this is marked by having the card in a vertical (upright) orientation. To exhaust a card, rotate it to a horizontal orientation. To unexhaust a card, rotate it to a vertical orientation. Cards are only unexhausted during the Recovery Phase.

All cards inherently have a resource cost. To pay a card's resource cost is to exhaust a number of unexhausted resources in your granary equal to its level. For example, to pay the resource cost of a level 3 card, exhaust 3 of your currently unexhausted resources by turning them sideways.

During the Recovery Phase, all cards in every player's battlefield and granary are unexhausted. In addition, every minion in every player's battlefield has its SP, HP, and level returned to the respective values printed on it. This effectively reverses any stat changes that might have happened, including damage. As such, these stat changes effectively last only for the turn in which they take effect, even thô this is not explicitly stated in card effects.

Abilities

A card's abilities are indicated in the ability text. Each ability is composed of the following components in the following order:

1. Ability name (minion abilities only): The name of the minion ability, designated with all capital letters. Has no effect on gameplay.
2. Activation condition: Indicates when the ability can be activated, followed by a colon (:). If no explicit activation condition is present, the ability's activation condition is the standard activation condition, meaning it may be used only during your own Action Phase.
3. Activation cost: Indicates a special cost paid upon activation of the ability, followed by an arrow (→). If you activate an ability you are unable to pay the activation cost for, the ability has no effect.
4. Sub-abilities: Composed of an optional target selection, indicating what cards are treated as targets for the sub-ability, and 1 or more effects, indicating what the sub-ability does. Each ability can have any number of sub-abilities; each sub-ability is a separate sentence.

Abilities whose activation condition is met can be activated. The way to do this depends on card type, but once an ability is activated, perform the following steps.

1. Immediately pay any activation cost. If you cannot, the ability fails. Otherwise, the ability becomes a chain link and either starts or continues a chain. (See Chains for more information.)
2. Wait for the ability to resolve in the chain. When it does, do what every sub-ability says to do in sequence. If any effect is impossible as stated on the card text, it does nothing.

Many abilities make use of special keywords; see Keywords for a list of explanations for all of these keywords.

Minions

Minions are cards which are used to do battle and may also have special abilities. Minions must be summoned from your hand to the battlefield before they can be used, but once they are summoned, they can be used indefinitely as long as they remain on the battlefield.

To summon a minion, pay a number of resources equal to the card's level, and then place it, face-up and exhausted, into the battlefield. (See Exhaustion and Recovery for more information about resources and exhaustion.)

Minions can have any number of abilities. Each ability is designated on a separate paragraph, with a name indicated. To activate a minion ability whose activation condition is met, the minion must be in-play and you must exhaust it, unless the ability has ghost-play. After that, perform the steps described for activation of an ability in Abilities.

Additionally, minions have SP – the minion's capability for inflicting damage in battles; and HP – the minion's tolerance for taking damage. Damage is the reduction of a player's or minion's HP by a given amount. When a minion takes damage, said damage can cause it to be destroyed. For example, if 2 damage is inflicted to a minion with 4 HP, that minion will have 2 HP left and not be destroyed. If 4 damage is inflicted to a minion with 4 HP, however, that minion will have 0 HP left and be destroyed.

When a minion takes an amount of damage greater than its HP, in addition to the minion being destroyed, the difference is inflicted as piercing damage to its controller. For example, if 6 damage is inflicted to a minion with 4 HP, the minion will be destroyed and its controller will take 2 HP of piercing damage.

Note: it is possible for a minion to initially have 0 HP; in such a case, any amount of damage will destroy the minion and be inflicted to its controller in full as piercing damage.

Damage is central to battles, which all minions can participate in; see Battles for more information.

Minions can also hold counters; see Counters for more information.

Spells

Spells are cards that only have a single ability. Spells can be cast from your hand. To cast a spell whose activation condition is met, pay its resource cost, reveal the spell to all other players (at this point the spell does not exist in any zone), perform the steps described for activation of an ability in Abilities, and then send the spell to the grave.

Counters

Some abilities manipulate or utilize counters. A counter is a special marker which can be placed on an in-play minion (but not a resource). Any available object can be used as a counter. Counters stay on the minion they are placed on until either the minion leaves the battlefield, or an ability removes them.

There are several different types of counters. Each type has a name and can be voluntarily removed to trigger a particular special effect. The following rules apply to all counters:

• These counters can be removed (and their effects triggered) literally at any time, that is to say, during any phase of any player's turn, even immediately after placing them, triggering the stated effect.
• With the exception of Dice Counters, removing a counter to trigger its effect starts a chain or, alternatively, you can remove a counter to trigger its effect in response to an existing chain. See Chains for more information.
• Removing counters for their effects does not require exhausting the minion it is on since the effect is that of the counter, not of the minion.
• The player who placed a counter is considered to be the counter’s “owner” and “controller” and is the one who can remove it for its effect, regardless of who the controller of the minion is. For example, if you place one of these counters on a minion controlled by another player, it is you who can then remove the counters to trigger the effect, and other players – including the minion's controller – cannot do so. Note that this restriction only applies to the effect of the counter itself; there is no restriction on how any counter, including a counter with an effect, can be removed for an activation cost or by a card effect.
• For timing purposes, note that when another player activates an ability, that ability’s activation cost is paid and its target is selected immediately, meaning that e.g. you cannot remove counters for an effect to render an activation cost impossible unless you do so before the other player indicates their intention to activate the respective ability.

Chains

Due to activation conditions on abilities and the nature of how counters work, it is possible for multiple players to simultaneously be able to perform certain actions. Chains exist to clarify what exactly happens in these situations.

The following actions all start a chain:

• Activating a minion's ability (after paying the activation cost).
• Casting a spell (after paying its required cost).
• Removing a counter to activate its effect.

When a chain starts, the action which started the chain becomes the first chain link. Then, all players, starting with the player to the left of the player who started the chain and then going clockwise, are given an opportunity to respond to the chain in one of the following ways, creating an additional chain link instead of starting a new chain:

• By activating a minion ability or spell with an activation condition that has been met (immediately paying the activation cost).
• By removing a counter to activate its effect.

If any player decides to respond to the chain, all players are again given the opportunity to respond to the chain, this time starting with the player to the left of the player who last responded and then going clockwise. This process is repeated until all players decide not to respond to the chain.

Once all players are done responding to the chain, the chain begins resolving: in reverse order (starting with the most recent chain link and working backwards), each chain link's effects are actually executed, which is referred to as resolving the effects.

For example, when resolving a chain where chain link 1 is an ability with the effect, “Destroy the targets,”, and chain link 2 is the effect of a Weakness Counter, then resolution of the chain goes as follows:

1. The effect of the Weakness Counter removed for chain link 2 resolves, decreasing the SP of the card it was on by 1.
2. The effect of the ability activated for chain link 1 resolves, destroying the cards it targeted.

Only 1 chain can be active at a time, and no actions which start a chain can be performed while a chain is resolving. If the effects performed within a chain satisfy an activation condition of a minion ability or spell, said minion ability or spell can be activated after the chain finishes resolving, starting a new chain.

Battles

To battle, go thru the following steps (only during the attacking player's Battle Phase):

1. Attack Formation: The attacking player exhausts any number of their unexhausted minions, which become the attacking team, and declares 1 victim: a player or a minion which the attacker wants to inflict damage to. Any given player or minion can only be declared as a victim once per Battle Phase. The player declared as a victim, or the controller of the minion declared as a victim, becomes the defending player. The attacking player selects and announces the formation order of the attacking team – the order in which these minions will take damage.
2. Defense Formation: The defending player may exhaust any number of their own unexhausted minions (which may or may not include the victim itself), which become the defending team. If they do this, they then select and announce the formation order of the defending team.
3. Damage Allocation: The attacking player rolls a number of six-sided dice equal to the total SP of the attacking team, and the defending player rolls a number of six-sided dice equal to the total SP of the defending team. Then, each player must take each of their rolled dice, 1 at a time (in any order), and inflict the result as damage to the next surviving minion in the other player's team (based on the respective formation order selected) until either all dice are used or all minions in the respective team are destroyed. If any of the attacking team's dice remain, inflict the total result of these remaining dice as damage to the victim, or if the victim is a minion which is no longer in-play, to the victim's controller instead.

For the purposes of timing, everything which occurs in each step is considered to occur simultaneously. As such, any action which starts a chain cannot be taken during one of the steps and must wait until the respective step is completed.

During your Battle Phase, you may initiate as many battles as you want to as long as you have unexhausted minions remaining and valid potential victims remain.

Endgame

The game ends when any of the following endgame conditions are met:

• When all players have 0 HP.
• When all players but 1 have 0 HP.
• When any player is made to draw a card while their deck is empty.
• When all players agree that there is no reason to continue the game.

A player's HP cannot be be lower than 0. Until an endgame condition is met, players with 0 HP, referred to as zombie players, continue to play as normal. Zombie players can regain a chance at winning the game by gaining HP before an endgame condition is met.

Once the game ends, use the following criteria to determine the winner. For each criterion, if it designates a single player, that player is considered the winner. Otherwise, check the next criterion only with the players who passed the previous criterion. If all criteria fail to designate a single player, the game ends in a tie between all players who were designated by the criteria.

1. The player who was not made to draw while their deck was empty.
2. The player with the most HP.
3. The player whose in-play minions' total combined levels is the highest.
4. The player with the largest number of cards in their deck.

Keywords

This section lists common keywords used in card text, including any important nuances for said keywords.

Revised and Banned Cards

As the game develops, cards made for old editions become outdated and no longer valid in new editions. This section documents all such cases, as well as cases where card text modifications have been applied that retroactively change the behavior of previously designed cards.

Clean Slate Edition

13^th Edition is considered to be a clean slate edition, meaning that any card not bearing an Edition Indicator, or any card whose Edition Indicator indicates an edition prior to 13^th Edition, is automatically considered to be a banned card (meaning it cannot be used in a game).