How To Play

Want to get going fast? Try our Quick Start Guide. Looking for something in particular?

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Quick Start Guide

The basics are simple -- play the best 2-card hands to deal damage to your opponent and win the match.

You play head-to-head against an AI or human opponent.
Each match consists of multiple hands.
For each hand, you select 2 cards, one face-up and one face-down.
The winner of the hand is the player whose cards have the highest sum (with one exception we’ll find out about later).
Win the match by doing damage to knock your opponent’s health down to zero.

Sounds easy to play, hm? It is, but we’ll uncover some deeper strategies later. Card Battle Saga takes strategy and cunning to master!

Main Menu

Card Battle Saga can be played against an AI opponent (PvE) or a human opponent (PvP). Choose your opponent on this screen:

Player vs. Player (PvP) Mode

In PvP mode you will be matched against a random human opponent. Once you are matched, you will be brought straight into a table to begin your match.

Saga Mode

In Saga mode, you will be matched against an AI opponent. Select a city and a level from the saga map. Each city has a unique table and cards.

Table And Cards

Each city has a different table top and cards matching the style of the city, with these elements:

Opponent Card Fan

Opponent Played Cards

Opponent HUD

Discard Count

Your Power

Your Health

Opponent Health

Opponent Power

Down Card Peek

Phase Indicator

Your HUD

Your Played Cards

Your Card Fan

Generally speaking, you play at the bottom of the screen, and your opponent plays at the top. On the table you see:

Health Meters and Power Meters. In the lower left, your Power Meter and Health Meter. In the upper right, your opponent's.

HUDs. In the lower left, your HUD, where you can Bet (x1, x2, or x3), Fold, read the Damage Estimate, and Confirm your action. In the upper right, you can see what action your opponent takes during the hand.

Card Fans. In the bottom right, your card fan. In the upper left, your opponents. Each player selects cards to play from this fan.

Down Card Peek. Use this to peek at your Face Down card after it has been played.

Played Cards. You play cards to the bottom two slots, your opponent plays to the top two slots.

Discard Count. A count of how many cards from the 32-card deck have been discarded.

Settings. Where you can adjust audio or other preferences.

The Deck consists of 32 Cards total, shared between you and your opponent. Cards are numbered 1 through 8, with four of each numbered card in the deck. All cards (excluding the cards in the players’ hands) are reshuffled after the discard pile contains 9 cards. Each city has a unique deck matching the style of that city.

Playing

Each match consists of multiple hands and follows the same basic steps:

Deal - receive new cards into your fanfold
Select - pick which 2 cards you want to battle with
Bet - place your own bet, or match your opponent's bet, based on your confidence and strategy
Showdown - deal damage, and settle the Power (you start with 1) and Health (you start with 25) scores

Each player starts with 1 on their Power Meter, and 25 on their Health Meter. The match is over when one opponents Health Meter drops to zero. There is no minimum or maximum number of hands.

Let's look at little closer at each step.

Deal

To begin, 3 cards are dealt to each player. As the match progresses, you may accumulate up to 6 cards, after which you'll be prompted to Discard.

Cards dealt, waiting for selection

Select

Each hand, select 2 cards by tapping them:

A Face Up card, which your opponent can see.
A Face Down card, which your opponent won’t see until the Showdown.

You can unselect cards by tapping them again. Confirm your 2 cards by pressing the Confirm button. Your cards and your opponent’s cards will appear in the Card Slots the table.

Pro Tip: Flexing

When you choose a Face Up card higher than your Face Down card, this is called Flexing. The goal of Flexing is to scare your opponent into folding--and your opponent must fold for you to win the hand, regardless of your cards. Careful, this is a high-risk high-reward move!

Cards selected, waiting for confirmation to play

Bet

Now it’s time for you to bet, based on the strength of your hand, and how strong or weak they think your opponent’s hand is. You have 2 options:

Fold. If you really don’t think you can win the hand, just Fold. Folding ends the hand without betting. When you fold, your Health Meter will take Damage equal to your opponent’s Damage Meter, but you preserve your Power Meter.
Bet. Choose a Damage Multiplier of x1, x2, or x3. For non-Flex hands, the Damage Estimate will be Power * Bet.

Pro Tip: Folding

Fold often, especially if your opponent’s Power Meter is low. Use this opportunity to throw out low cards, draw better ones, and to minimize the damage you take.

Power 4 * Bet 1 = Damage Estimate 4

Matching: If your opponent places a Bet higher than yours, you will have one opportunity to match that bet, or fold. If both players match bets, we go to Showdown to see who wins the hand!

Opponent HUD show x2 bet, player must match or fold

Showdown

After each hand, Power and Health are recalculated for both players. The winning player deals damage to opponent's Health and Power, and receives a Power Bonus. You will see damage being dealt during the Showdown phase after every hand. See Scoring for details.

Player dealing damage to opponent

Playing-Deal

Playing-Select

Playing-Bet

Playing-Showdown

Scoring

Scoring hands varies based on whether one or both players is FLEXING during the hand.

Non-Flex Hands

A player dealing Health damage when not flexing deals Damage = Power * Bet.

Hand Played	Results And Scoring
Both players fold.	Power and Health stay the same. Both players draw an extra card.
One player folds.	Winner deals Health Damage = Power * Bet, and receives Power Bonus. Loser (folding player) receives Health Damage, Power remains the same, and draws an extra card.
Players match bets, and one player has a winning hand.	Winner deals Health Damage = Power * Bet, and receives Power Bonus. Loser receives Health Damage, and Power resets to 1.
Players match bets, and score is tied.	Both players deal Health Damage, and Power resets to 1.

Flex Hands

A player dealing Damage when Flexing deals Damage = Power * 2. Power results remain the same as for Non-Flex hands.

Don't forget!

If you are Flexing in a hand, your opponent MUST fold for you to be declared the winner!

Hand Played	Results And Scoring
Both players fold.	Power and Health stay the same. Both players draw an extra card.
One player Flexes, and the Non-Flexing player folds.	Flexing player wins the hand. Winner deals Health Damage = Power * 2, and receives Power Bonus. Loser receives Health Damage, Power stays the same, and draws another card.
One player Flexes, and the Non-Flexing player does not fold.	The Flexing player loses the hand -- regardless of the strength of the hand! Winner (Non-Flexing player) deals Health Damage, and receives Power Bonus. Loser (Flexing player) receives Health Damage = Power * Bet, and Power resets to 1.
One player Flexes, and the Flexing player folds.	Non-Flexing player wins the hand, deals Health Damage = Power * Bet, and receives Power Bonus. Flexing player receives Health Damage, Power stays the same, and draws another card.
Both players Flex, and neither folds.	Scoring reverts to Non-Flex scoring! If one player has a winning hand, the Winner deals Health Damage = Power * Bet, and receives Power Bonus. Loser receives Health Damage, and Power resets to 1. If it's a tie, both players deal Health Damage, and Power resets to 1.

Power Bonus and 1-3 Rule

The hand winner always receives a Power Bonus between +1 and +5 as follows:

Winning Hand: +1 Power

1-3 Rule: +2 Power (max +4) for each 1 or 3 card in winner's hand

The hand winner collects this Power Bonus for every winning hand, and there is no upper limit on your Power during a match!

Pro Tip: 1-3 Rule

You receive an additional Power bonus of +2 Power (max +4) for each 1 or 3 played in a winning hand.

Winning The Match

Win by knocking your opponent's health to zero (or below). If both players drive the other to zero or below in the same final hand, the lowest negative score is the loser.

Human 909441 wins!

Scoring-Non-Flex-Hands

Scoring-Flex-Hands

Scoring-Power-Bonus

Scoring-Winning

Strategy Tips

Follow these tips from the pros to raise your game!

Fold often. When you Fold, you preserve your Power, and you are dealt an extra card in the next hand (up to 6, after which you will be prompted to discard).

Preserve your Power. When your Power is low and your opponent's is high, it might be a good time to Fold, which limits the Power Damage your opponent can do. When your opponent's Power is low, you might attack with strong cards, but it also might be a good time to play some of your lower cards--then you have the option to Fold and pick up better cards for a future hand.

Play 1s and 3s strategically. Remember, you can get a +2 or +4 Power boost if you win the hand when playing 1s or 3s.

Do the math. Once you see your opponent's Face Up card, you know their highest possible hand is that card +8. Use that information to decide whether to bet big and try to force your opponent to Fold, to Fold yourself and avoid damage, or to take your chances and match bets.

Flex selectively. Remember, your opponent has to fold for you to win.