How to play a card duel

Step by step

1. Start at the school. Open the tutorial at the Card Master. You can pause demonstrations, repeat a lesson and practise decisions without spending physical cards.
2. Try a complete match. If your collection is not large enough, use Duelo de prueba (Trial duel). Once you have a valid deck in your album, use the option to duel with your own deck.
3. Read the board. Distinguish your hand, monster slots, support slots, deck and graveyard. Inspect cards by selecting them and read their effects.
4. Play your turn. Resolve the draw, place or use permitted cards and perform your combat actions. Finish with END TURN when you do not want to take further actions.
5. Watch for responses. Some traps can activate when the opponent declares an attack. The response window is not a new turn: choose a valid response or let the action continue.

Attack and defence

When attack meets attack, ATK values are compared. The weaker card is destroyed and the difference is deducted from the losing player’s LP. Read active effects: they may change the values before resolution.

Against a defending monster, the attacker’s ATK is compared with the defender’s DEF. If the attack exceeds defence, the defender is destroyed without the difference passing through as normal damage to its player. If attack is below defence, the attacker may lose LP.

You cannot attack twice with the same monster or freely change its position several times in a turn. A newly placed monster has position change restrictions. An attack command from defence changes position automatically only when that change is legal.

Spells: ACTIVATE or SET

Select a spell in your hand and use ACTIVATE to resolve it when legal. SET places it face down in a support slot; a spell just set this way cannot activate in that same turn.

Some spells go to the graveyard after their effect resolves; others remain for their duration. Normal healing does not exceed the initial 8000 LP. Read the card text rather than guessing its behaviour from the artwork.

Traps and response opportunities

Set a trap face down during your turn. When its conditions are met, a response opportunity appears. Select it and use ACTIVATE to activate it, or pass.

Not all traps work the same way. An effect may reduce ATK, cancel an action or destroy a card. Some reductions remain while a link exists rather than affecting only one hit. If time runs out, the pending action continues.

Equipment and monster control

To equip from your hand, select the equipment, choose one of your own face-up monsters and an available support slot. The equipment card occupies that slot and attaches to the monster. If the equipment leaves the field, its bonus ends; if the monster is destroyed, its equipment is removed.

Interchange swaps control of one of your monsters and an opposing monster. First select the one you give away, then the one you receive. This is not a new summon: position and actions already used are preserved. Equipment stays in its slots and attached to the same monster, even though the monster is now on the other side.

Limits and the end of the match

Losing a duel does not destroy physical items in your collection. Do not confuse a combat card sent to the match’s graveyard with the item stored in your album.

• If you draw with a full hand, resolve the pending draw: discard the new card or replace another card in your hand. You cannot continue with nine cards.
• If you must draw and your deck is empty, you lose.
• Respect the turn and response timers.
• Surrendering or disconnecting may end the duel in defeat.
• School practice does not award cards, prizes or a saved deck.