How to Play The Miras 9 TCG

Goal

Goal of the Game

Each player tries to outlast and defeat the opponent by controlling Sites, winning Battles, Pressuring enemy lanes, and draining the opponent's life force.

Your Main Deck, Resource pile, and Used pile together represent your remaining life force. You lose when all three are empty.

Board

The Board

Each player has three lanes. Each lane begins with a basic token Site, and real Sites can overlay those lanes.

Exterior The front line for most units, vehicles, and battles. Interior Protected or sanctuary-style locations. Space Where ships, space units, and Ship-Sites operate.

Cards

Main Card Types

Units: Characters, spirits, vehicles, ships, and other battlefield cards.
Sites: Locations that define where the game happens.
Ship-Sites: Large ships that act like locations, such as The Miras 9.
Planet / Spirit cards: Planet cards that track Echo and may awaken.
Events: One-time effects, tactics, and reactions.
Equipment: Upgrades attached to units.

Turn flow

Turn Structure

Awaken Action Attack / Battle Move Attune Pass Turn

Awaken

Ready your cards. Then choose one innate card-flow option: draw the top card of your Main Deck, or move the top card of your Main Deck to your Resource pile. Then generate resources from Sites, Ship-Sites, and card effects as allowed.

Action

Play Units, Sites, Events, and Equipment. Use Action abilities. Freely embark and disembark eligible units on Vehicles, Ships, and Ship-Sites.

Attack / Battle

Make one-off Attacks or start a full Battle at a Battleground Site.

Move

Move units, Vehicles, Ships, and Ship-Sites. You may also freely embark and disembark eligible units. Vehicles, Ships, and Ship-Sites carry embarked units with them when they move.

Attune

Manifest, Pressure, Restore, draw cards from the Resource pile, and resolve end-of-turn effects.

Pass Turn

End the turn. Units that entered play this turn stop being Unattuned when their controller passes the turn.

Life force

Resources and Life Force

Resources are generated by moving cards from the Main Deck to the Resource pile. When resources are spent, cards move from Resource to Used. During Attune, you may draw any number of cards from your Resource pile to hand.

Cards in Main Deck, Resource pile, and Used pile are your remaining life force. Drawing and spending give options, but also reduce long-term survival.

Units

Units, Wounds, and GRIT

Units take wounds instead of being defeated immediately. A unit is defeated when its wounds equal or exceed its GRIT. Defeated cards go to the Discard pile unless a card says otherwise.

Unattuned units cannot attack, Manifest, Pressure, add ATK to Battle Presence, or use tap abilities until their controller passes the turn.

Movement

Vehicles, Ships, and Ship-Sites

Vehicles and Unit-Ships usually need crew to operate. If unmanned, they can remain in play, be attacked, and take wounds, but they usually cannot move, attack, Pressure, or add ATK to Battle Presence.

Vehicles and Unit-Ships may Pressure if manned and eligible, but they cannot Manifest.

Ship-Sites are not Units. They act more like mobile locations. The Miras 9 is a Ship-Site and lets friendly Characters aboard it Manifest while embarked if the Ship-Site is active at a friendly site or lane with no active enemy Battle Presence.

Combat

Attacks vs Battles

Attack

A one-off skirmish. One unit attacks a legal enemy target. Attacks can wound or defeat units, Vehicles, Ships, or Ship-Sites, but they do not create Battle Damage or Aftershock unless a card says otherwise.

Battle

A full site-wide conflict. A Battle can start only at a Battleground Site where both players have active Battle Presence. Battles create a Battle Snapshot, determine a winner through Final Battle Presence, deal Battle Damage, and may trigger Aftershock.

An Attack is a skirmish. A Battle is the whole scene.

Battle

Battle Basics

Start a Battle at a Battleground Site.
Create the Battle Snapshot.
Resolve Battle attacks and reactions.
Count Final Battle Presence from surviving participating units.
Declare the winner.
Resolve Battle Damage and Overdamage.
Resolve Aftershock if enough Echo was present.

Echo

Echo, Manifest, and Pressure

Echo represents spiritual force, memory, and attunement. Characters and Spirits have ECHO values, and players can gain Echo tokens.

Manifest: At a friendly site or lane with no active enemy Battle Presence, an eligible Character may Manifest during Attune to gain Echo. Vehicles and Ships cannot Manifest, even if manned.

Pressure: At an enemy site or lane with no active enemy Battle Presence, an eligible unit, Vehicle, Ship, or card ability may Pressure during Attune. Only one Character can Manifest or Pressure at a given site or lane each turn.

Aftershock

Aftershock is the cinematic spiritual fallout of a Battle. During a full Battle, participating Characters and Spirits create a Battle Echo Snapshot. For every 3 Echo in a player's snapshot, that player may choose one Aftershock effect from an alignment represented in the Battle.

Aftershock effects are small alignment-based consequences, such as healing, dealing a wound, restoring cards, slipping away, or salvaging resources.

Timing

En Route and Spotted

En Route cards are moving toward a site or lane but have not arrived yet. They do not count for Battle Presence, do not start Battles, and are not included in Battle Snapshots until they arrive.

Spotted is the exception. A Spotted En Route card becomes active and present for combat and Battle purposes for the duration of the effect.

Quick reference

Quick Start Summary

Build presence at Sites.
Use resources carefully.
Attack to remove threats.
Start Battles to score major damage.
Manifest to build Echo.
Pressure undefended enemy locations.
Use Vehicles, Ships, and Ship-Sites to reposition and protect your crew.
Win by draining the opponent's remaining life force.