Gameplay

Gameplay in Weiß Schwarz is governed by the rules below. In the case that the rules should conflict with what is printed on a card, use what is printed on the card.

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 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 cleared 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 the current 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. The player going second is allowed to discard any number of his hand to the Waiting Room and draw cards from the deck until they have 5 cards again (Until you get used to the game, it might be a good idea to discard any Character cards that are not Level 0 and draw new cards).
 * 4) Start the first turn of the game.

Stand Phase
Put all characters currently on your field into the Stand position (i.e. upright). Any characters mistakenly left in the Rest position (i.e. sideways) will remain so for the rest of the turn.

Draw Phase
Draw the top card from your deck and add it to your hand (this is applicable even on the first turn of the game).

Clock Phase
You may choose one card to place into the Clock Area in order to draw an additional 2 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) *You can play an Event Card from your hand. Event Cards whose effects have expired are sent to the Waiting Room. There is no limit to the number of Event Cards that you can play.
 * 3) Play a Character Card.
 * 4) *You can play a Character Card from your hand in the Stand position into any slot on your 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. There is no limit to the number of Character Cards that you can play.
 * 5) Move a Character Card.
 * 6) *You can move a Character Card between any two slots on your Stage. Swapping the slots of two Character Cards is allowed. However, the position of the card must remain unchanged (i.e. a card in the Rest position cannot be changed to Stand position and vice versa).
 * 7) Use the Activation Ability of a Character Card.
 * 8) *Character Cards with 【起】 printed on the card that are on your Stage can use an Activation Ability. Provided you can pay the cost, you can use the same ability as many times as desired.

Climax Phase
One Climax Card may be played from the your hand into the Climax Area. The Climax Card will stay in effect for the remainder of your turn.

Attack Phase
Only your front row characters in Stand position can attack and inflict damage on your opponent. Attacking consists of repeatedly doing, in order, steps 1 through 5, and then doing step 6 once at the end.


 * 1) Attack Declaration Step
 * 2) *Declare your attack by placing the attacking character into the Rest position. You have three types of attacks to choose from.
 * 3) *#Front Attack
 * 4) *#*Conduct battle with the opposing character directly in front of your attacking character.
 * 5) *#Side Attack
 * 6) *#*Go around the opposing character in front of you to attack the player directly (Subtract the value of the enemy's character level from your character's Soul value for this attack).
 * 7) *#Direct Attack
 * 8) *#*Use this attack when there is no opposing character directly in front of you (Your character's Soul value is increased by 1 for this turn).
 * 9) *You can only attack once if this is the first turn of the game. If you choose not to attack during the first turn, go directly to step 6.
 * 10) Trigger Step
 * 11) *Flip the topmost card of your deck and activate the effect shown by the Trigger Icon in the top right hand corner of the card. After doing so, turn the card face-down and place it in the Stock Area.
 * 12) Counter Step
 * 13) *It is only possible to counter Front Attacks.
 * 14) *Your opponent may play only one card with the Counter Icon or assistance ability.
 * 15) Damage Step
 * 16) *Your opponent receives damage equal to the attacking character's Soul value.
 * 17) *He must draw and overturn from the top of his deck the same amount of cards as the damage received.
 * 18) *If he overturns a Climax Card, the remaining damage is canceled, and 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) *You may now choose to attack again by going to Step 1. Otherwise, go to Step 6.
 * 24) Encore Step
 * 25) *Send all of your cards that are in the Reversed position, one-by-one, to your Waiting Room. When you finish, your opponent does the same on his side.
 * 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.
 * 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 you used a Climax Card, move it from the Climax Area to the Waiting Room. If you have more than 7 cards in your hand, discard to the Waiting Room until you have 7 cards or less in your hand. All cards activated during this turn that say "そのターン中～" lose their effect at this point. At the end of this phase, it becomes your opponent's Stand Phase.