GET A DECK
You’ll need your own SDL deck. You’ll also need a way to keep track of both players’ victory point and yen totals.
GET A FRIEND OR TWO...OR EVEN MORE
To play a game, you’ll need an opponent! Your opponent will play against you using his or her own deck.
START THE GAME
Each player starts at 0 victory points and 2000 yen. You win the game by getting 20+ victory points. You also win if your opponent has to draw a card when none are left in his or her deck, or if a spell or ability says that you win.
Decide which player will go first. If you’ve just played the same opponent, the loser of the last game decides who goes first.
Otherwise, roll a die or flip a coin to see who gets to decide.
Each player shuffles his or her deck, then draws a hand of seven cards to start. If you don’t like your opening hand, you can mulligan. Shuffle your hand back into your deck and draw a new hand of six cards. You can keep doing this, drawing a hand of one fewer card each time, until you decide to keep your cards.
PART OF THE TURN
1. Beginning Phase
a. Untap step
You untap all your tapped permanents. On the first turn of the game, you don’t have any permanents, so you just skip this
step. No one can play cards or abilities during this step.
b. Upkeep step
This part of the turn is mentioned on a number of cards. If something is supposed to happen just once per turn, right at the beginning, an ability will trigger "at the beginning of your upkeep..." Players can play events and activated abilities.
c. Draw step
You draw a card from your deck. (The player who goes first skips this draw on his or her first turn to make up for the advantage of going first.) Players can play events and activated abilities.
2. First Main Phase
You can play any number of skills, events, duelists, items, locations, and activated abilities. Your opponent can play events and activated abilities.
3. Combat Phase
a. Beginning of combat step
Players can play events and activated abilities.
b. Declare offensive duelists step
You decide which, if any, of your Duelists will attack, then they do so. This puts the offensive duelists into the combat zone. Players can play events and activated abilities.
- declare support offensive duelists substep
-You decide which, if any, of your support duelists will assist one of your offensive duelists
c. Declare defending duelist step
Your opponent decides which, if any, of his or her Duelists will fight your offensive duelists, then they do so. This puts their defending duelist into the combat zone
- declare support defending duelists substep
-Your opponent decide which, if any, of their support duelists will assist one of their defending duelists
--you may put a location card into combat zone
Players can play events and activated abilities.
d. Combat damage step
Each duelist assigns its combat damage to the defending player's Duelists that is blocking. Once players decide how the duelists they control will deal their
combat damage, the damage is "locked in" and it goes on the stack. It will be dealt even if some of the duelists leave play.
Players may then play events and activated abilities. Once these have all resolved, all combat damage is actually dealt.
e. Award step
Compare your duelist's loyalty to your opponent's duelist (compare those which dueled each other) then award victory points and yen respectively to each players. then return all duelist back to the commons zone
Players can play instants and activated abilities.
f. End of combat step
Players can play instants and activated abilities.
4. Second Main Phase
Your second main phase is just like your first main phase. You can play activated abilities and every type of card, but your opponent can play only activated abilities and events.
5. End Phase
a. End of turn step.
Abilities that trigger "at end of turn" go on the stack. Players can play events and activated abilities.
b. Cleanup step
If you have more than seven cards in your hand, choose and discard cards until you have only seven. Next, all "until end of turn" effects end. No one can play cards or abilities unless an ability triggers during this step.
Next Turn
Now it’s your opponent’s turn. Once they go through their turn it your turn again. Keep repeating until a player reaches 20 victory points