Rule Set

Last Updated on Jun. 13, 2024

The Basics

In the Voidlit Card game, players earn cards, build decks, and participate in matches against other players in various game modes.

Each match of Voidlit is a 1vs1 battle between two opponents. The gameplay is turn-based, with players taking turns to play cards from their hand to trigger powerful Effects, bolster their army with Units, apply passive influences with Relics, or equip their Units with powerful Upgrades.

Each player represents a Nation, which determines the unique cards and abilities available to them. Each player begins a match with 30 Health. The player loses the game if their Health Points are reduced to zero.

Constructing a Deck

While some cards are available to decks of any Parallel (Universal cards), a substantial portion are limited to a specific Parallel, giving each faction its strengths and unique abilities.

When decks are constructed, they must consist of 40 cards from a single given Parallel, as well as any cards from the Universal pool. Up to 3 copies of a given card can be included in a deck to increase the consistency of play. Cards of Legendary rarity, however, can only be added once to a deck.

Playing Cards

Each card in Parallel has an energy cost (located at the top right of every card).

Players start the game without energy but gain energy through banking cards. Players get 1 unit of Energy to spend on playing cards for each card in the Bank.

Energy is refilled to the current maximum available at the start of each turn. Unspent energy remaining at the end of the turn does not carry over to the next.

As the game progresses, players will gradually build a more giant Bank. In later rounds, Banked Energy allows players to play increasingly expensive cards, opening the game up to more impressive moves and powerful abilities.

The Goal

The objective in Parallel is simple: reduce the enemy's Health to zero before they can do so to you. However, the game features multiple strategic elements that require mastery before succeeding at competitive play levels.

The control of Units, the assignment of strategic importance to various targets, complex card synergies and interactions, and the unpredictability of the randomly selected cards drawn each round combine to create a complex game where the best plays are not always obvious.

Start of Game

At the start of each match, which player will go first is randomly decided.

Each player is then shown 5 random cards from their deck. They can return any number of those cards to their deck and then draw many cards to replace them. This is known as the Mulligan phase, whereby each player's initial starting hand is determined.

The player who goes first does not get to draw a card at the beginning of their first turn.

The second player does, however.

During Each Turn

At the start of each turn, a card is drawn and added to a player's hand.

Players can have a maximum of 8 cards in their hand; attempting to draw a card with a full 8-card hand will result in the new card being revealed to both players and immediately Wasted (placed in a Waste Pile designated for expended cards, or cards that were killed/destroyed in battle).

Each player has their own Waste Pile, the contents of which are openly viewable by both players).

If a player has banked a card that turns, they will draw another card when they’ve ended their turn.

During a turn, Energy can be spent playing cards on the Field, performing actions such as mustering Units, playing Effects and relics, and equipping Upgrades, provided they have enough energy.

Playing a card will consume the amount of Energy stated on the card, activating abilities or performing actions noted on the cards when played. Players can also command their Units to engage in combat, attacking other Units or the Enemy Player directly.

Once the player has taken all the actions they want, they can end their turn.

Combat

New Units placed on the Field will suffer from Fatigue, preventing them from attacking on the turn they are played.

On subsequent turns, those Units can engage in combat, targeting either the Enemy Player or the Enemy Units on the field.

Unit-to-unit combat in Parallel is resolved simultaneously. This means if both Units can deal lethal damage to one another, they will be destroyed when that combat concludes. Some units possess unique abilities that can be activated or triggered, providing a positive or negative impact on the Field and adding a level of strategy to how a player might sequence their attacks each turn.

Units Destroyed in combat will typically be placed in the Waste Pile.

Running Out of Cards

Running out of cards to draw does not cause the player to lose. However, once a player has drawn all their cards, attempts to draw an additional card from their empty deck will instead draw a random card from that player’s Waste Pile.

This is called Searching the waste. Drawing a card from the Waste Pile in this manner also causes the player to lose an exponential amount of Health, starting at 1, and doubling with each additional card.

Conclusion of Match

The match will go on until one of the following goals is achieved:

• One or both player’s Health Points reach or are less than 0. The remaining player wins. The game will end in a draw if both players’ Health force reaches 0 simultaneously.

• A player concedes or leaves the game. The remaining player wins.

Conceding

Players can concede or forfeit the match once they realize they cannot avoid defeat and can do so at any time.