BLACKSOULS CARDGAME / PLAYER GUIDE

How to Play & Rules

You do not need to learn everything at once. Choose what you want to do now and jump straight to the instructions you need.

This is an open alpha test. Rules, card abilities, values, UI, and saved data may be changed or reset without notice. This page reflects the game implementation as of July 31, 2026.

What do you want to do?

Choose the closest option. Each path is organized as “Before you start → Prepare → Play → Help.”

PATH 01 / FIRST GAME

This is my first game. I want to learn by playing.

The Draft tutorial is the recommended starting point. You can try each action immediately after it is explained.

Title screen with DRAFT, RULER, and OTHER choices plus Leaf's help bubble — Choose DRAFT on the title screen first. Leaf in the lower-right also offers short gameplay tips. The smaller text in this screenshot is Japanese.

01 / BEFORE YOU STARTBefore you start

Draft is a best-of-three mode in which you add cards to a 10-card initial deck. Both players start each round at 30 HP, and the first player to win two rounds wins the match.

02 / PREPAREPrepare

Open Draft from the title screen.
Select the tutorial.
Use one of the prepared decks to begin without building first.

03 / PLAYPlay

Before round 1, choose one of three offered cards ten times. Add five cards before round 2 and three before round 3, growing the deck to 20 → 25 → 28 cards. Offers come from the combined pool of every pack used by you and your opponent.

Draft also gives each player three Oaths. Hover over them in game to review their effects.

04 / HELPHelp

In the tutorial, a gold frame marks what to look at and a blue frame marks where a card moves from. Right-click a card to enlarge it. If deck building blocks you, open BUILD GUIDE at the top of the builder.

Draft mode selection screen with Online, Offline, and Tutorial choices — At the Draft entrance, choose TUTORIAL in the lower-right. The Japanese line beneath it means “Review how Draft works.”

Shared battle basics Draft deck rules Soul Merge, Sell, Reload

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PATH 02 / RULER

I want to start with my constructed 40-card deck.

Ruler skips drafting and uses your complete 40-card deck from the start in one decisive round.

Opening turn of a Ruler battle with both players at 40 HP — Ruler starts both players at 40 HP and uses the complete constructed 40-card deck from the beginning.

01 / BEFORE YOU STARTBefore you start

You start at 40 HP. There is no draft and no Oath system. A single loss decides the match, so the deck needs plays for the early game as well as the late game.

02 / PREPAREPrepare

Exactly 40 cards
Up to 6 packs and up to 3 copies of each card
Up to 2 Abyss cards
No Build Point cap

Use a prepared starting slot or save a valid deck in the Ruler deck builder.

03 / PLAYPlay

Choose Ruler CPU under OFFLINE or a Ruler match under ONLINE. Mana, hands, combat, and Soul Merge work the same way as in other battles. Reducing the enemy leader to 0 HP wins the match immediately.

04 / HELPHelp

If the match cannot start, check that the deck has 40 cards and does not exceed the pack, copy, or Abyss limits. Points shown elsewhere are not a Ruler restriction.

Ruler deck rules Shared battle basics Open the Card List

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PATH 03 / OFFLINE

I want to practice alone against the CPU.

OFFLINE lets you try Draft or Ruler without waiting for another player.

Chronicle Mode, available from OTHERS, is a dedicated single-player adventure in which you collect cards as you progress (currently under active development).

Draft Offline selection leading to a normal CPU match or Draft practice — Choose OFFLINE at the mode entrance to open CPU play or Draft practice. The Japanese line beneath it means “Normal CPU match / Draft practice.”

01 / BEFORE YOU STARTBefore you start

Choose the tutorial to learn the rules in order, or a CPU match to test decks freely. Mode-specific deck regulations remain the same as in player matches.

02 / PREPAREPrepare

Choose the rules you want to play (DRAFT or RULER) on the title screen.
Select OFFLINE on that mode's screen.
Select your deck and CPU settings, then start.

03 / PLAYPlay

Use Draft to practice picking cards and moving through rounds, or Ruler to test a complete 40-card deck. Right-click cards for details as you experiment with Sell, Soul Merge, and attack order.

04 / HELPHelp

Reopen the tutorial when an action is unclear. If a deck cannot start, check the rules for that mode. If the display or game flow stops, also see Known Limitations & Help.

Draft tutorial Starting Ruler Shared battle basics

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PATH 04 / ONLINE

I want to play against another person.

Select a valid deck, then join through Quick Match or a room match.

Large Online panel at the Draft mode entrance — Choose ONLINE at the mode entrance to continue to matchmaking against another player.

01 / BEFORE YOU STARTBefore you start

The current test target is a 64-bit Windows 10/11 PC running the latest Google Chrome. A stable connection is required. Do not use personally identifying information as your display name.

02 / PREPAREPrepare

Choose the rules you want to play (DRAFT or RULER) on the title screen.
Select ONLINE on that mode's screen and confirm a valid deck.
Use Quick Match to find an opponent, or choose a room when coordinating with someone.
Complete the ready prompt after the opponent joins.

Online match method selection with Quick Match and Player Match panels — QUICK MATCH finds an opponent automatically. PLAYER MATCH lets both players choose the same room.

03 / PLAYPlay

Draft and Ruler have different deck rules, round counts, and starting HP. Review the Draft path or Ruler path first. During online play, card resolutions follow the server's authoritative result.

04 / HELPHelp

The service supports up to 20 rooms and 40 players in live matches. If it is full or a room is still starting, wait a few minutes and retry. For repeated disconnects or errors, report the time and include a screenshot.

Review Draft Review Ruler Connection and data cautions

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PATH 05 / REFERENCE

I want to look up deck rules or card terms.

Shared rules are kept below so you can open only the reference you need.

Card details screen showing the title, ability, flavor text, and Soul Rank versions — Card Details collects the ability text and the Soul Rank I–IV versions in one view.

01 / BEFORE YOU STARTBefore you start

Draft and Ruler use different deck regulations. First check which type of deck you are editing.

02 / PREPAREPrepare

BUILD GUIDE in the deck builder shows the current mode's requirements. Use the Card List to find the abilities of every card.

03 / PLAYLook it up

Right-click a card in game to enlarge it and review Soul Ranks I–IV. Hover over colored keywords in the detail view for an explanation.

04 / HELPHelp

If a deck cannot be saved, check its card count, packs, duplicate copies, Points, or Abyss limit. When a card explicitly differs from a general rule, follow the card text.

Battle basics Draft deck rules Ruler deck rules Cards and zones Soul Merge, Sell, Reload Main keywords

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Shared Reference: Battle Basics

Winning, starting hand, and initiative

Reduce the enemy leader to 0 HP to win the round. The basic starting hand is four cards; the mulligan replaces any selected cards with the same number of new draws. The second player receives a 0-cost Coin that grants +1 temporary Mana, and only the first player's opening turn skips the normal draw.

Your turn

Maximum Mana increases by 1 and current Mana refills to that maximum. Maximum Mana is capped at 10.
You normally draw one card, except on the first player's opening turn.
You may play cards, attack, Sell, and Soul Merge in any legal order.
The hand limit is 10. Pawns and Areas share a seven-card field limit.

Attacking

A pawn normally has summoning sickness on the turn it enters play. Drag an attack-ready pawn onto an enemy pawn or leader. Pawns deal their ATK to each other at the same time; a pawn at 0 HP or less goes to the graveyard.

Reference: Draft Deck Rules

Initial deck	10 cards
Selected packs	Up to 3
Copies per card	Up to 3
Build Points	30P maximum
Tokens	Cannot be added

Base Points per copy are Ember 0P, Hollow 3P, Radiant 6P, Abyss 15P, and Grimm 0P. The second copy of the same card adds a further +3P, and the third adds a further +6P.

Draft Pool Packs panel showing the packs used to generate Draft offers — DRAFT POOL PACKS shows the packs from which card offers can be generated during the match.

Reference: Ruler Deck Rules

Deck	40 cards
Selected packs	Up to 6
Copies per card	Up to 3
Abyss cards	Up to 2
Build Points	No cap
Tokens	Cannot be added

In either mode, only cards from your selected packs may be used. The number of cards taken from each selected pack is unrestricted.

Shared Reference: Cards and Zones

Pawn: Remains on the field and fights using ATK and HP.
Area: Remains on the field and provides an ongoing effect. It cannot normally be attacked; use appropriate card abilities to deal with it.
Spell: Resolves when played, then normally goes to the graveyard. A card marked Exhaust goes to the Exhaust zone instead.
Equipment: Your leader equips one item in a dedicated slot. It normally attacks once per turn and loses 1 durability per attack.
Graveyard: Receives cards through death, resolved spells, Sell, and similar actions. Its cards return when the deck reloads.
Exhaust zone: Holds cards removed from the game. They do not return on reload. Soul Merge material disappears without entering either zone.

Shared Reference: Soul Merge, Sell, and Reload

Soul Merge and Soul Rank

Combine two copies of the same card in your hand to Soul Merge. The material card disappears, and the remaining card's rank becomes the sum of both ranks, up to IV. A successful merge draws one card. Cost, ATK, HP, or abilities may change with Soul Rank.

Sell

Drag one card from your hand to the Sell zone to send it to the graveyard and gain +1 Mana for that turn. This is normally once per turn, and the gained Mana can exceed maximum Mana.

Deck reload

Drawing from an empty deck shuffles the graveyard back into the deck and raises every returned card by +1 Soul Rank, up to IV. Reload damage increases 1 → 2 → 4 → 8 and so on. Exhausted cards do not return.

Shared Reference: Main Keywords

Opening: At round start, if this card is in your deck, put it into your hand.
Activate: While this card is in play and you can pay its cost, press the skill button at the top of the card.
Taunt: The opponent must target a pawn with Taunt whenever possible.
Stealth: This pawn is harder to choose as an attack target.
Penetrate: When this destroys an enemy pawn, excess damage is dealt to the enemy leader.
Rush: This pawn can attack while summoning-sick.
Double/Triple/Quad Strike: This pawn can attack the stated number of times each turn.
Shield: Prevent the next instance of damage to this pawn.
Drain: Restore Life equal to the attack damage this deals.
Barrier: This pawn is protected from certain effects.
Revive: When this dies, it returns to play the specified number of times.
Kill: Kill the target without triggering Revive. Death abilities still trigger normally.
Ignore Taunt / Ambush: Choose attack targets regardless of the opponent's Taunt.
Discover: Choose one of three randomly offered cards and add it to your hand.
Recollection: While this is in your graveyard, pay its listed cost to use the effect.
Final Chant: The listed effect triggers if you have 0 Mana after playing this card.
Bleed: At your turn end, take 1 damage and lose 1 stack. Healing is halved, rounded down, and removes 1 stack.
Madness: Make a normal attack against a random pawn or leader, friend or foe.
Mill N: Put the top N cards of your deck into your graveyard.

When a card explicitly differs from a general rule, follow the card's own text.

Bugs, Connections, and Saved Data

If something behaves unexpectedly and no match is in progress, reload the game and check whether it still occurs in the latest version. Supported environments, the 20-room limit, and browser-data cautions are listed under Known Limitations & Help.