Shadowverse: Evolve

Game Overview

Shadowverse: Evolve is a physical trading card game (TCG) published by Bushiroad, based on the video game Shadowverse developed by Cygames. Two players each build a deck centered around a Leader, and in turn-based matches deploy Followers, cast Spells, and play Amulets to reduce the opposing Leader's defense to 0 and claim victory.

• Players: 2
• Duration: Approximately 15–40 minutes (varies by deck and pace of play)
• Objective: Reduce the opponent's Leader's defense below 0, or force the opponent to draw from an empty deck when required to draw

Core Mechanisms: Play Point (PP) management, Follower combat, evolution system, keyword ability synergy

1. Card Types & Information

1.1 Five Card Types

Special type markers: EVOLVE cards and ADVANCE cards have special field movement rules.

1.2 Card Attributes

Each Follower/Amulet card has: card name, Class, kind, Type, cost (PP), card text, attack, defense. Spell cards have no attack or defense. Leader defense defaults to 20 (unless otherwise stated).

1.3 Seven Classes

2. Key Terms & Resources

2.1 PP (Play Points)

• PP is the cost resource used to play cards and perform actions such as evolution
• At the start of each round, PP is refilled to the PP maximum
• PP maximum increases by +1 each round (maximum of 10)
• PP minimum is 0, and cannot exceed the current PP maximum

2.2 EP (Evolution Points)

• Used to pay the alternative cost of 1 PP in evolution abilities
• The second player starts with 3 EP; the first player starts with 0 EP
• Minimum is 0

2.3 SEP (Super Evolution Points)

• An additional resource required to pay when performing a Super Evolution
• All players start with 1 SEP
• Starting from round 7 for the first player / round 6 for the second player, you may pay 1 SEP to perform a Super Evolution (after evolving, both attack and defense gain +1)

2.4 Area Descriptions

2.5 Card States

• Stand: Placed vertically; can attack or use abilities that require paying a Stand cost
• Act: Placed horizontally; has already been used

3. Setup

3.1 Deck Construction

• Leader card: 1
• Main deck: 40–50 cards (cannot include Leader, EVOLVE, ADVANCE, or Token cards)
• Evolution deck: 0–10 cards (may only contain EVOLVE or ADVANCE cards)
• A maximum of 3 copies of the same card may be included in the main deck and the evolution deck respectively (maximum 6 in total)
• All cards must be built around the same class or the same Title

3.2 Pre-Game Steps

1. Both players reveal their leader card, main deck, and evolution deck
2. Place the leader card in the leader area
3. Declare whether the deck is built by class or by title
4. Shuffle the main deck and place it in the deck area
5. Place the evolution deck in the evolution deck area
6. Randomly determine first player/second player (the selected player chooses to go first or second)
7. Each player draws 4 cards from the top of their deck as their starting hand
8. Mulligan: Starting with the first player, each player may return any number of cards from their hand to the bottom of their deck and draw an equal number of cards (once per player)
9. Set both players' PP and PP maximum to 0
10. First player EP = 0, second player EP = 3; both players' SEP = 1
11. Set leader's defense to 20
12. Resolve effects triggered "at the start of the game"
13. The first player becomes the turn player, and the game begins

4. Gameplay

The game proceeds in alternating rounds. Each round consists of the following three phases performed by the active player:

4.1 Start Phase

Perform the following in order:

1. PP maximum +1 (maximum of 10)
2. Refill PP to the current PP maximum
3. Ready all: Set all cards you control to the ready state
4. Draw 1 card (the first player does not draw on round 1)
5. Check Timing: Perform rule processing and pending automatic abilities

4.2 Main Phase

The active player performs one of the following four choices in turn, then checks timing, and returns to the four-choice loop:

1. Play a card: Play 1 card from your hand or EX area, paying PP equal to its cost
2. Activate an activated ability: Activate 1 activated ability you control
3. Perform an attack: Attack with 1 of your followers (see Section 5 for details)
4. End the main phase: Proceed to the end phase

4.3 End Phase

1. Trigger "at the end of the round" effects
2. Check Timing
3. The active player may choose to rest their followers with [Ward]
4. Check Timing
5. Opponent's quick timing: The non-active player may play cards with [Quick] or use activated abilities with [Quick] (may repeat)
6. Hand limit processing: If your hand exceeds 7 cards, discard down to the limit
7. Remove all "until end of round" and "this round" effects
8. The round ends, and the active player is swapped

5. Attack & Combat

5.1 Attack Steps

1. Select attacking follower: Choose 1 of your followers in the standing state
   - Must be a follower that has been under your control since the start of this turn, or a follower that evolved this turn
2. Select attack target:
   - 1 of the opponent's followers in the rested state; or
   - The opponent's leader (only if the attacking follower has been under your control since the start of this turn)
3. Rest the attacking follower
4. Trigger the "attacked" event; if the target is a follower, both enter the engaged state
5. Check timing
6. Opponent's quick timing: The opponent may play cards or abilities with [Quick] (may repeat)
7. Damage resolution: The attacking follower deals damage equal to its attack to the target; if the target is a follower, the target simultaneously deals damage equal to its attack to the attacking follower
8. Check timing, attack ends

5.2 Damage & Destruction

• Damage reduces the follower's/leader's defense (may go below zero)
• A follower with defense ≤ 0 is destroyed by rule processing at check timing
• A player whose leader's defense ≤ 0 loses at check timing
• A player required to draw from an empty deck loses at check timing

5.3 Damage Classification

6. Evolution System

6.1 Normal Evolution

• Choose 1 of your non-EVOLVE followers on the board
• Reveal 1 EVOLVE card with the same name from the evolution deck, place it in the evolution area, and associate it with that follower
• After evolving, the follower's information (except cost) becomes the information of the card in the evolution area
• Attack and defense modifiers from before evolution carry over after evolution
• All abilities from before evolution are lost, and the abilities after evolution are gained
• An evolution ability can be used once per round (unless it has an "any number of times per round" effect)
• 1 EP may be used in place of 1 PP to pay the evolution cost

6.2 Super Evolution

• In addition to normal evolution, pay an extra 1 SEP
• Condition: from round 7 onward for the first player / from round 6 onward for the second player
• Effect: after evolving, attack and health each +1
• Triggers a "when super evolving" event

7. Win/Loss Conditions

8. Keyword Ability Quick Reference

9. Class-Specific Mechanics