Proxy Rules

Build a 40-card deck, install cards as charges for energy, set bodies and traps, then resolve simultaneous turns through speed-based combat.

Start Here

  1. Build decks. Each player brings exactly 40 cards. A deck can include up to 4 duplicates of a card. Cards with the same abilities are duplicates even if their ability order differs.
  2. Set up zones. Each player has a deck, hand, discard, abyss, trap zone, charge zone, front line, back line, and special zone.
  3. Draw opening hands. Each player draws 5 cards. There are no mulligans and no maximum hand size.
  4. Choose the first active player. Turns are simultaneous, but the active player breaks ties and acts first. At cleanup, active player passes left.
  5. Play turns until someone loses. A player loses when they must draw, keep, or discard from the top of their deck and no card exists.

Turn Loop

1

Refresh

Both players ready their boards. Then refresh and start-of-turn triggers happen.

2

Insight Draw

Each player looks at cards from the top of their deck equal to their insight, keeps one unless modified, then puts the rest on the bottom in any order.

3

Main Phase

Players take plays in priority order until every player passes.

4

Combat

Start-of-combat triggers happen, then bodies attack in speed rounds from highest speed to lowest.

5

Cleanup

End-of-combat and end-of-turn triggers happen, temporary effects end, all damage is removed, and the active player moves left.

Main Phase Plays

A player with priority may make one play. After the active player's first play, priority rotates through player order. A player who passes cannot make more plays this turn.

Install a chargeOnce per turn, play a card upside down in your charge zone. Single-type charges enter ready. Dual-type charges enter drained. Three-plus-type charges enter drained and cost one additional energy to install.
Set a bodyPay its cost and set it into your front line or back line. Bodies enter ready and can attack the turn they are set.
Set a techniquePay its cost. The technique uses the stack and goes to discard after it resolves.
Set a trapPlace a card face down in your trap zone. You may inspect your own face-down traps.
Use an activated abilityUse a paid ability from a card on the field. Paid body abilities usually require draining and may also require energy.
Move between linesPay one generic energy to move a ready body between front line and back line. Drained bodies cannot use this normal move.
Retain priorityPay one energy to keep priority instead of passing it.

Combat

  1. Start combat. Resolve start-of-combat triggers.
  2. Make speed rounds. Begin with the highest speed among bodies on the field and work down to the lowest. If multiple bodies share the current speed, active player order decides who attacks first.
  3. Attack with front-line bodies. Only front-line bodies can attack. When a body attacks, it drains, chooses a front-line blocking card, deals attack damage to it, and engages it.
  4. Strike back when engaged. If a body was attacked, it is engaged and must strike one engaged body when its speed round arrives. If it is engaged with multiple bodies, its controller chooses which one it strikes.
  5. Handle unblocked damage. If a body deals unblocked damage, the defending player puts one card from the top of their deck into discard. Impact X adds X more top-deck cards to discard.
  6. Discard defeated bodies. Bodies that hit 0 health or take lethal damage go to discard. Excess damage is damage beyond what was needed to discard the body.

Cards

Bodies

Bodies are cards on the field. They have attack, health, speed, and impact. The baseline body is 1/1/1/1 and costs 1 neutral.

Only front-line bodies block and attack. Drained front-line bodies are still blocking.

Traps

Traps are set face down in the trap zone. When their condition is met, the owner may pay the activation cost, flip the trap, and execute it.

Traps interrupt plays, use the stack, and go to discard after use.

Techniques

Techniques are non-body, non-trap plays. They resolve through the stack, then go to discard.

Techniques do not have attack, health, speed, or impact.

Charges

Any card can be installed upside down as a charge. Drain a ready charge by turning it 90 degrees clockwise to produce its energy.

Charge abilities are used from the charge zone.

Stack And Triggers

StackProxy uses a first-in, last-out stack. The most recent play or activation resolves first.
Shared trigger timingIf multiple triggers happen at the same time, the active player chooses one of their triggers, then the next player does the same, continuing around player order until all triggers resolve.
Trap timingTraps can interrupt plays and use the stack.

Reference

Energy Symbols

  • [x] neutral
  • [a] arcane
  • [f] force
  • [l] light
  • [n] noxious
  • [s] storm
  • [d] drain
  • [t] times taken or ability-defined count

Zones

  • Front line
  • Back line
  • Hand
  • Deck
  • Discard
  • Abyss
  • Trap zone
  • Charge zone
  • Special zone

Useful Definitions

  • Set means play a card by paying its cost.
  • Entering the field means being set into a line.
  • Field means front line and back line.
  • Board means field plus traps.
  • Abyss means exile.
  • Face-down body is 1/1/1/1, has no abilities, and costs 0.