Gameplay

Gameplay in Weiß Schwarz is governed by the rules below.

Basic Information
First and foremost, in the case that the rules should conflict with the card text, the card text takes precedence.

Card Types

 * See Card Types

Play Area

 * See Game Mat

Preparing a Deck
Weiß Schwarz can be played out of the box using any Trial Deck. However, if you want to make your own deck, it must conform to the following rules:
 * 1) A deck must contain exactly 50 cards.
 * 2) A deck can only have up to a maximum of four cards with the same name.
 * 3) A deck can have at most 8 Climax Cards.

Level Up
Whenever there are 7 or more cards in the Clock Area of a player, the player's level increases by 1. From the first 7 cards in the Clock Area, pick one to be placed in the Level Area, and discard the other 6 cards to the Waiting Room. Any additional cards in the Clock Area remain there unless conditions for a subsequent level up is met.

Playing a Card
In order to play a card, three conditions must be met unless otherwise stated.
 * 1) Level
 * 2) *The level of the card must be equal to or lower than the player's own level. (Applies only to Character and Event Cards)
 * 3) Cost
 * 4) *The number of cards specified by the cost must be moved from the Stock Area to the Waiting Room. (Applies only to Character and Event Cards)
 * 5) Color
 * 6) *There must be at least one card of the same color as the card to be played in the player's Level or Clock Area. (Does not apply to Level 0 Character and Level 0 Event Cards).

Refreshing the Deck

 * When a player's deck runs out of cards, the cards in the Waiting Room are immediately turned face-down and shuffled, then placed in the Deck Area as the new deck.
 * After that, the topmost card of the new deck is then placed in the Clock Area. Even if the topmost card is a Climax Card, damage cancel does not apply.
 * If the deck runs out while taking damage or while drawing cards, Refresh the deck and complete any queued action before drawing a card from the top to place in the Clock Area.

Winning and Losing Conditions

 * The player that forces his opponent to Level 4 wins the game.
 * The player that runs out of cards in both his deck and Waiting Room at the same time loses the game.

Starting the Game

 * 1) Both players shuffle their respective Deck and place it face-down in the Deck Area.
 * 2) Decide which player goes first through some random method (e.g. Rock-paper-scissors).
 * 3) Both players draw 5 cards from the top of their Deck and place them into their hands. Each player, starting with the player going 1st, followed by the other player, is allowed to discard any number of his hand to the Waiting Room to draw the same number of cards from the top of the Deck.
 * 4) Start the first turn of the game.

Stand Phase
Put all characters currently on the turn player's Stage into the 【Stand】 position (i.e. placed upright). Any characters mistakenly left in the 【Rest】 position (i.e. placed sideways) will remain so for the rest of the turn.

Draw Phase
The turn player may choose to clock one card from his hand to draw 2 additional cards.

Clock Phase
The player may choose to place one card from his hand on the Clock Area to draw 2 additional cards.

Main Phase
Any of the following 4 actions may be done as many times as desired during this phase.
 * 1) Play an Event Card.
 * 2) *Event Cards can be played from the turn player's hand, Event Cards which effects are resolved are sent to the waiting room.
 * 3) Play a Character Card.
 * 4) *The turn player can play a Character Card from his hand in 【Stand】 position on any slot on his Stage. If the slot is already occupied by another character, the character currently in the slot is sent to the Waiting Room, and the new card is played in its stead.
 * 5) Move a Character Card.
 * 6) *The turn player can move a Character Card he controls from one slot to another slot he desires on his own Stage. Swapping the slots of two Character Cards is allowed. However, the position of the cards must remain unchanged (i.e. a card in the 【Rest】 position cannot be changed to 【Stand】 position and vice versa).


 * 1) Use the Startup Ability of a Character Card.
 * 2) *Activation of a Startup ability (denoted with a 【起】) of a Character Card in play is allowed by meeting specified condition and paying the appropriate cost.

Climax Phase
One Climax Card may be played from the turn player's hand in the Climax Area.

Attack Phase
Characters in the turn player's Center Stage in 【Stand】 position may attack the opponent and inflict damage. If this is the first turn of the game, only one attack may be declared. For each attack, repeat in order steps 1 through 5, then carry out the instructions in step 6 once at the end of the Attack Phase.


 * 1) Attack Declaration Step
 * 2) *Declare one of three types of attack by placing the attacking character into 【Rest】position.
 * 3) *#Front Attack
 * 4) *#*Conduct battle with the opposing character directly in front of the attacking character.
 * 5) *#Side Attack
 * 6) *#*Avoid conducting battle with the opposing character before the attacking card to attack the player directly. Soul Points of the attacking card is decreased by the opposing card's level for this damage calculation.
 * 7) *#Direct Attack
 * 8) *#*The attack declaration used when there are no character card present in the slot directly in front of the attacking character card. Increase the attacking character's Soul Points by 1 for this damage calculation.
 * 9) Trigger Step
 * 10) *The attacking player flips the top most card on his deck and activates the effect of the Trigger Icon, shown in the top right hand corner of the card. After resolving the effect the triggered card is flipped face-down and placed in the Stock Area.
 * 11) Counter Step
 * 12) *The Counter Step is only conducted if a Front Attack is declared in Step 1.
 * 13) *The player receiving the attack may play a card, or use a Startup Ability marked with the Counter-Attack Icon.
 * 14) *Character cards with BACKUP played this way must meet the level requirement, but can other wise be played regardless of its colour. Counter Event Cards must however meet both the level and colour requirement.
 * 15) Damage Step
 * 16) *The player being attacked receives damage equal to the attacking character's Soul Point.
 * 17) *The damaged player must draw and overturn from the top of his deck the same amount of cards as the damage received.
 * 18) *If a Climax Card is overturned, the remaining damage is canceled, and all the overturned cards are placed in the Waiting Room.
 * 19) *Otherwise, all the overturned cards are placed in the Clock Area.
 * 20) Battle Step
 * 21) *The Battle step only occurs in the case of a Front Attack.
 * 22) *The power value of the battling Character Cards is compared, and the character with lower power is put into 【Reversed】 position(i.e. facing the player). In the case of a tie, both cards are placed in 【Reversed】 position.
 * 23) *To perform a second attack, return to step 1, other wise, proceed to step 6.
 * 24) Encore Step
 * 25) *The turn player send all of his cards in 【Reversed】 position one-by-one to the Waiting Room. When the turn player has sent all of his 【Reversed】 cards to the Waiting Room, the non-turn player will repeat the procedure.
 * 26) *At this point of time, a character with ENCORE ability can be placed back in the slot they were occupying in 【Rest】 position by paying the appropriate cost.
 * 27) *Character Cards with no ENCORE ability can still be Encored by paying a cost of 3 stock. This is considered by standard ruling to be an ability all Character Cards possesses by default, with the following description 『【Startup】 Encore ［(3)］』.
 * 28) *※Encore can be conducted regardless of phase as long as the requirements are met (e.g. if a card is to be sent to the Waiting Room via an Event Card's effect played during the main phase, it can still be encored if the player pays the appropriate cost).

End Phase
If a Climax Card is in play, send it to the Waiting Room. If the turn player have more than 7 cards in his hand, he will have to discard cards in his hand until his hand size is 7. All effects activated during this turn that say "そのターン中～" loses their effect at this point. At the end of this phase, the turn player's turn is considered over and the control of the turn is given to the opponent.