Spiritfang Shogunate

How to Play

Six types of cards. Nine clans. One battlefield. Learn everything you need to command the Shogunate.

◆ ◆ ◆
◆   Cards of the Shogunate   ◆
◆   Know Your Arsenal   ◆

Types of Cards

Six categories of power. Each reshapes the battle in a different way.

Characters
Unit Card
Characters
Warriors, demons, kami, samurai, ninja, and spirit-constructs. The heart of your deck — each with unique combat styles, philosophies, and abilities.
Ninjitsu
Ninjitsu Card
Jutsu & Spells
Special techniques, spiritual arts, elemental attacks, and supernatural abilities. Combo them with your warriors for devastating chain effects.
Locations
Location Card
Locations
Haunted shrines, demon-infested forests, abandoned dojos, celestial courts. Locations shift the rules of engagement for both players while they remain on the field.
Equipment
Equipment Card
Equipment
Attach to characters to grant new abilities, stat boosts, and tactical advantages. Forge your warriors into something the enemy cannot match.
Traps
Trap Card
Counters & Traps
Face-down cards that activate on specific conditions. Ambushes, illusions, misdirection, psychological warfare. The patience of the true strategist.
Shōri no Daishō
◆ Legendary
Shōri no Daishō
Ultimate techniques and forbidden arts. They reshape the entire battlefield in one moment — but each demands a price and specific conditions. Pay it, and the match is yours.
◆   A Turn in Battle   ◆

How Your Turn Works

Draw
Step 1
Draw
Take a card from your deck
Gain Chakra
Step 2
Gain Chakra
Energy refills each turn
Play Cards
Step 3
Play Cards
Spend Chakra to deploy
Attack
Step 4
Attack
Strike enemy cards
End Turn
Step 5
End Turn
Pass to your opponent
◆   The Rules   ◆

How the Battle Works

Every duel is a test of foresight. Know the rules — then bend them.

The Objective
  • Each player starts with 20 HP
  • Reduce your opponent's HP to 0 to win
  • Creatures cannot attack players directly — they attack the field
  • Outlast, outmaneuver, or overpower. All three paths are valid
Your Turn
  • Draw a card from your deck
  • Gain Chakra — the energy used to play cards
  • Play cards by spending Chakra equal to each card's cost
  • Attack with your creatures against enemy cards
  • End Turn — passes control to your opponent
A turn timer is active. Plan quickly and strike decisively.
Card Stats
  • Top-left circle — Chakra cost to play the card
  • Bottom-left (blue) — HP: how much damage the card can take
  • Bottom-right (red) — ATK: damage dealt when attacking
  • Standard creatures range 1–5 ATK and up to 10 HP
  • Legendary and high-cost cards break these limits
Chakra System
  • Chakra is your energy resource — spend it to play cards
  • 1–2 Chakra: basic units and spells
  • 3–5 Chakra: stronger abilities and mid-tier characters
  • 6+ Chakra: powerful Oni-level units and game-changers
  • Balance your deck across cost tiers to always have plays available
The Battlefield
  • Cards are played face-up to the field in front of you
  • Trap cards are placed face-down and trigger on conditions
  • Location cards affect both players while active
  • Equipment cards attach to characters already on the field
  • The board has a chess-influenced layout — positioning matters
Opening Hand & Mulligan
  • At game start, you see your opening hand of cards
  • Select any cards you want to replace and redraw
  • Confirm with OK to lock in your starting hand
  • A balanced hand gives you plays in turns 1 and 3 — plan around Chakra
Shōri no Daishō — Ultimate Arts
  • Each Legendary card has specific field conditions that must be met before activation
  • Once triggered, they reshape the entire battle in a single moment
  • They extract a price — resources, sacrificed creatures, or both
  • Each Ultimate is unique to a character and their history in the world
  • Build your strategy around enabling your Ultimate — then detonate it
  • Opponents who see one coming must prevent the conditions before it fires
◆   Status Effects   ◆

Keywords & Conditions

Every effect has a counter. Learn them all.

Debuff
Paralyse
The target creature is frozen and cannot attack or use abilities for a set number of turns.
Debuff
Poison
The creature takes 1 damage at the start of each turn until cured or destroyed.
Debuff
Charm
The charmed creature cannot attack or activate abilities on its next turn.
Buff
Hibernate
The creature sleeps but grows stronger. Stat boosts gained while hibernating are permanent after waking.
Buff
Fury
The creature can attack twice in a single turn instead of once.
Buff
Spell Immunity
Cannot be targeted or damaged by spells, traps, or ability effects. Only direct attacks reach it.
Buff
Trample
Excess damage beyond the target's remaining HP is dealt directly to the opponent's player HP.
Buff
Death Touch
Instantly destroys any creature it damages, regardless of how much HP that creature has remaining.
Removal
Extinct
Permanent removal. The creature is destroyed and cannot be revived by any means. No return from Extinct.
◆   Deck Building   ◆

Build Your War Council

Decks are not faction-locked. Mix cards from any of the nine clans. Build around synergies, not allegiance.

01
Balance Your Chakra Curve
Include cards at every cost tier — low-cost for early plays, mid for momentum, high-cost to close games. A deck with only expensive cards stalls. A deck with only cheap cards runs out of steam.
02
High Defense Creates Decisions
Durable, hard-to-remove creatures force your opponent into difficult choices. Protect your key pieces. Make the opponent waste Chakra answering threats instead of pressing their own.
03
Build Around Synergies
The best decks have combos — cards that make each other better. A jutsu that empowers a creature. An equipment that enables a status. Find two cards that are dangerous together, then build around them.
04
Adapt as You Play
Rigid strategies lose. Read your opponent's board. Hold cards for the right moment. Flexibility and timing beat raw power. The shogi master wins by reacting, not by following a fixed script.
05
Bluff With Face-Down Traps
Every face-down card is a question mark. Even an empty trap slot changes how your opponent plays. Set traps early to slow their aggression — they will always assume the worst behind the veil.
06
Build Around One Win Condition
The strongest decks have a clear goal: enable a Legendary, create an unstoppable board, or drain the opponent's resources. Pick one path and build every card selection toward it.
◆   Advanced Mastery   ◆

Tactics of the Shogunate

Survive long enough and patterns emerge. These are the lessons only the battlefield teaches.

Count Chakra, Not Cards
Track how much your opponent can spend each turn. If they sit at 3 Chakra and their threat costs 5, you have one more free turn. Use that window to set up — never let it pass without making a move.
Trade Favorably, Not Just Often
A 1-Chakra card killing a 4-Chakra threat is a win. A 4-Chakra card killing a 1-Chakra nuisance is not. Evaluate every trade by resources, not just presence on the board.
Set Up Your Ultimate Early
Shōri no Daishō cards have conditions. Read them on turn one and start working toward them immediately — not when you draw the card. By the time it arrives, the board should already be ready to detonate it.
Know When Not to Attack
Passing an attack to preserve a key unit is often stronger than trading into a wall. Patience is its own jutsu. Sometimes the most powerful play is letting the opponent overextend into your trap.
◆   Ready to Fight   ◆

The Shogunate Awaits

Download free on iOS. Build your deck, master the clans, and forge your legacy in the dark Edo-fantasy world of Spiritfang.