DC Deck-Building Game: Injustice
DC Deck-Building Game: Injustice Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
207 Game Cards
- 20 Light Punch Starter Cards
- 8 Vulnerability Starter Cards
- 8 Heavy Punch Starter Cards
- 4 Defend Starter Cards
- 92 Main Deck Cards
- 16 Flying Kick Cards
- 20 Weakness Cards
- 9 Super Move Cards
- 14 Nemesis Cards
- 15 Clash Cards (Impossible Mode)
- 1 Randomizer Card
9 Oversized DC Character Cards 4 Oversized Health Track Cards 6 Health Markers 4 Charge Markers 253 KO'd Tokens 25 VP Tokens 10 Oversized Arena Cards (Advanced Mode) 3 Arena Reminder Tokens 1 Rulebook 1 Multiverse Divider
Setup
1. Your Character and Starting Deck
Each player is dealt 2 random oversized Character cards and chooses 1 of them to play. Alternatively, each player may choose to play as their favorite Character. Each player takes the Super Move for their chosen Character and tucks it under their Character card so that the charge cost is still visible. Return the unused Characters and Super Moves to the game box.
Each player begins the game with a starting deck of 5 Light Punch cards, 2 Vulnerability cards, 2 Heavy Punch cards, and 1 Defend card. Return any unused Starters to the game box.
Card Details
The different card types that you can play are: Starter, Villain, Super Move, Hero, Super Power, and Equipment. Weakness and Flying Kick cards have no card type.
Super Move — such as Batman's "The Dark Knight": "+2 Power. Deal 1 unavoidable damage to each foe for each Defense card you control and in your discard pile." Shows a Charge Cost (the number in the circle in the lower right, e.g. 5).
Starter Cards — Light Punch: "+1 Power" (5x in Starter deck). Vulnerability (2x in Starter deck, no text shown). Heavy Punch: "+1 Power. Attack: Deal 2 damage to target foe." (2x in Starter deck). Defend: "Defense: Discard this card to avoid an Attack." (1x in Starter deck). Starter cards show Victory Points as a star icon in the lower left.
Flying Kick — "+2 Power. Attack: Deal 2 damage to target foe."
Weakness — "Return this card to its stack if destroyed. Take 1 unavoidable damage and return this card to its stack."
Super-Villain — such as Injustice The Joker: card type reads "VILLAIN · SUPER-VILLAIN (Level 1)". "Draw 2 cards. Ongoing: Increase damage you deal to foes by 1. (This card starts on top of the Nemesis stack.)" Cost 8.
Super Hero — such as Aquaman (Earth-1): card type reads "HERO · SUPER HERO (Level 2)". "+3 Power and you may put your deck into your discard pile. First Appearance — Attack: Each player reveals a random card from their discard pile and destroys it unless they take damage equal to its cost." Cost 9. The word "Level" points to the small badge under the card type banner.
The term "Nemesis" is used to refer collectively to these standard-sized Super Hero and Super-Villain cards.
Hero with Attack — such as Injustice Black Canary: Card Type "HERO". "+2 Power. Area Attack: Deal 2 damage to each foe." Shows Victory Points and Cost.
Equipment with Meter Burn — such as Grapnel Launcher: Card Type "EQUIPMENT". "+1 Power. Target foe cannot avoid your next Attack this turn. Meter Burn (1): Draw a card, then discard a card." Shows Victory Points and Cost.
Villain — such as Injustice Raven: "+2 Power. Each foe you successfully attacked this turn reveals a Hero from their hand. You may play one of the revealed cards. Then, return it." Shows Abilities and Cost.
Super Power with Defense — such as Somersault: Card Type "SUPER POWER". "Draw a card. You may discard a card. If you do, charge your Meter. Defense: Discard this card to avoid an Attack. If you do, charge your Meter and draw a card." Shows Cost.
Clash (Impossible Mode) — such as "Overload": "Ambush: Each player may Meter Burn (1): Avoid this card's damage. Each player reveals and draws the top card of their deck. The foe to your right deals damage to you equal to the cost of the card you drew."
Arena (Advanced Mode) — such as "Watchtower": shows named slots for icons/abilities, e.g. Javelin — "Meter Burn (1): Put this card on top of your deck." and Computer — "Charge your Meter."
2. Health Bars and Charge Meter
Give each player a Health Track card, 1 Health marker, and 1 Charge marker. Place the Health marker on the number 20 on the upper Health Bar. Place the Charge marker on the number 0 on the Charge Meter.
Diagram: the Health Track card shows two Health Bars (numbered 20 down to 0, the upper bar in gray and the lower bar in red) with the Health marker sitting on 20, and a Charge Meter — a numbered wheel (1 through 8) with the Charge marker on 0 — captioned: "Each time you successfully attack 1 or more foes, charge your Meter." and "Meter Burn (00): Play your Super Move from under your Character, then return it."
3. The Main Deck
Most of the cards that you will add to your deck during the game come from the main deck. Set aside all Flying Kick, Weakness, and Nemesis cards. Shuffle the remaining Hero, Villain, Equipment, and Super Power cards together and place them in the middle of the table. This forms the main deck, which is made up of 92 cards total.
4. The Line-Up and Stacks
After shuffling the main deck, place the top 5 cards from the main deck into a row to form the Line-Up. There is no board necessary to play this game; just reserve space for each card. Next, place the Flying Kick and Weakness stacks at the end of the Line-Up. The main deck and the stacks of cards on the end are not part of the Line-Up.
Diagram: the Main Deck (face down, 92 cards) sits beside the Line-Up — five face-up cards, for example Injustice Martian Manhunter (Hero: "+2 Power. Each foe you successfully attacked this turn reveals a Villain from their hand. You may play one of the revealed cards. Then, return it."), Sword and Shield (Equipment: "+2 Power. Attack: Target foe gains a Weakness. Defense: Discard this card to avoid an Attack. If you do, draw a card and target foe gains a Weakness."), Cyborg (Earth-1) (Hero: "+2 Power. Each foe you successfully attacked this turn reveals an Equipment from their hand. You may play one of the revealed cards. Then, return it."), Heat Vision (Super Power: "+2 Power. Area Attack: Deal 3 damage to each foe."), and Injustice Killer Frost (Villain: "Draw a card. Attack: Target foe gains a Weakness."). The cards in the Line-Up will vary. The Stacks sit beside the Line-Up: a face-up Nemesis stack topped by a Level card such as Injustice The Joker (Super-Villain: "Draw 2 cards. Ongoing: Increase damage you deal to foes by 1. (This card starts on top of the Nemesis stack.)"), a Flying Kick stack ("+2 Power. Attack: Deal 2 damage to target foe."), and a Weakness stack ("Return this card to its stack if destroyed. Take 1 unavoidable damage and return this card to its stack."). At the start of the game, there should be 16 Flying Kick and 20 Weakness cards in their respective stacks.
5. The Nemesis Stack and Tokens
Take the standard-sized Nemesis cards and sort them by their Level. You will use a certain number of each Level depending on the number of players in the game. Take the Level 3 Nemesis cards, shuffle them face down, and place them in a stack above the Flying Kick stack. Then, take the Level 2 cards, shuffle them face down, and place them on top of the Level 3 cards. Finally, put the Level 1 Nemesis on top of the stack face up. Note: The Level 4 Nemesis cards are only used in the Extended Game variant (see page 11).
| Number of Players | Level 1 Cards | Level 2 Cards | Level 3 Cards |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1 | 4 | 3 |
| 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
Count out 4 KO'd tokens per player and put them in a pile next to the Line-Up with the -3 VP side of each face up. Place the VP tokens in a pile next to the Line-Up. Once you have arranged the main deck, Line-Up, stacks, and tokens, it will look something like the image above.
6. First Player
The player who most recently read a comic book gets to go first. Alternatively, you can determine first player randomly. The last player in turn order charges their Meter twice. In a 4-player game, the third player charges their Meter once. Each player shuffles their 10-card starting deck and draws 5 cards.
Gameplay Overview
Players take turns in clockwise order. You take your turn by playing cards from your hand face up in front of you for all players to see. Any game text on the card resolves immediately from top to bottom. This will generate Power (the "currency" of the game) and other abilities. After you play a card, leave it in your play zone in front of you. Do not put the cards you play directly into your discard pile.
Each turn, you may spend the Power you generate to buy cards from the Line-Up, Flying Kick stack, and/or the top card of the Nemesis stack to improve your deck. All cards you gain are immediately placed into your face-up discard pile unless you are instructed otherwise. Discard piles are always face up and may be looked through at any time. You do not have to play all of the cards in your hand before you start to buy cards and may play additional cards after you have started to purchase cards.
You can buy any number of available cards with combined cost less than or equal to the total Power you have generated this turn. For example, your Light Punch cards each give you +1 Power. If you play 4 of them and a Vulnerability, which generates no Power, your total Power for the turn is 4. You can buy a single card with cost 2, 3, or 4, or even 2 cards each with cost 2, assuming these options are available. Flying Kick cards are (usually) available if the cards in the Line-Up are too expensive, and you may buy more than 1 during your turn.
You may choose to end your turn when you are done playing and buying cards. You do not have to play all the cards in your hand or spend all of your Power before ending your turn. However, you cannot carry over cards you do not play to your next turn and any Power you do not spend is lost. So, it's normally a good idea to play all your cards and spend as much of your Power as you can.
Once you have finished your turn, you will refresh the game area and draw 5 cards from your deck. The player to your left will then begin their turn.
Ending Your Turn
When you end your turn, resolve the following steps in order:
- Announce that you are ending your turn.
- Put any cards remaining in your hand into your discard pile.
- Resolve any "end of turn" abilities.
- Put all cards you played into your discard pile. Any unspent Power is lost.
- Draw 5 cards from your deck.
- If there are fewer than 5 cards in the Line-Up, add cards from the top of the main deck to the Line-Up until there are 5 cards.
- If the top card of the Nemesis stack is face down, flip it up and read aloud its "First Appearance — Attack."
- Every player who was KO'd this turn resets their health to 20.
- Your turn is now over. The next player in the turn sequence starts their turn.
Resolving Card Abilities
When an ability tells you to draw a card, that card is always drawn from your own deck. If you cannot fully resolve the text on a card, resolve as much of it as possible. When you play a card that triggers another ability, like on your Character, fully resolve the card you are playing before resolving any secondary abilities triggered by your card play.
If a card's ability affects multiple players, and the order matters (for example, each player gaining a Weakness, with only 1 Weakness remaining in the stack), resolve that ability for each affected player in clockwise order, starting with the active player.
Shuffling Your Deck
You don't shuffle your discard pile and make it into your deck as soon as you run out of cards. However, if at any point during the game there are no cards in your deck and you need to draw, discard, or reveal a card from your deck, immediately shuffle your discard pile, and it becomes your new deck. Then, carry out the action.
Sample Turn Sequence
Diagram: Vulnerability + four Light Punch cards = Cyborg (Earth-1).
After shuffling up your starting cards, you draw a hand of 4 Light Punch cards and 1 Vulnerability for your first turn. You may play the 4 Light Punch cards for a total of 4 Power, which is enough to buy Cyborg from the Line-Up. After buying that card, you put it into your discard pile. The Vulnerability provides you with no additional Power. You have no Power left to buy additional cards and no other cards to play, so you can end your turn. Put all of the cards you have played into your discard pile and then draw a new hand of 5 cards. After refilling the Line-Up, it will be the next player's turn.
End of Game
The game ends when either of the following 3 conditions is met:
- At the end of the turn in which the last KO'd token is given out.
- At the end of the turn in which the last Nemesis is defeated.
- Immediately if you are unable to refill the Line-Up to 5 cards.
At the end of the game, all players return all Ongoing cards they have in play, all cards in their hands, and all cards in their discard piles to their decks. Then, each player totals up the Victory Points on cards in their deck and on the tokens acquired during the game. Each VP token adds 1 to your score. KO'd tokens and Weakness cards in your deck at the end of the game will subtract Victory Points from your total.
The player with the highest VP total wins! In case of a tie, the tied player with more Nemesis cards wins. If there is still a tie, the tied player with the greater number of cards in their deck wins.
Attack and Defense
Attack cards have the bold keyword "Attack:" in their game text and allow you to directly Attack your foes. When you play a card with an Attack ability, it will either affect all your foes or a foe of your choice, signified by the word "target." You can also tell that an Attack affects each foe by the word "Area" before the word Attack. Starting with the foe to the attacker's left, each affected foe has an opportunity to avoid the Attack with a Defense card. After each player has decided whether they will defend or not, each player that didn't avoid the Attack is affected by the text after "Attack:".
Example: Injustice Killer Frost (Villain) — "Draw a card. Attack: Target foe gains a Weakness."
If an Attack is unavoidable, that means players may not use a Defense card and must resolve the negative effects of the Attack. In order for an Attack to be "successful," it must actually affect at least one foe. A foe is affected by an Attack if they did not avoid it with a Defense and gained a Weakness, discarded a card, and/or took damage from the Attack.
Defense cards have the bold keyword "Defense:" in their game text and allow you to avoid the negative effects of an Attack card played by a foe. In order to use a Defense card, it must be in your hand. A player may utilize only 1 Defense card per Attack. Most Defense cards give you a reward when you use them to avoid an Attack. The reward is listed after "If you do" on your Defense card. This text is ignored when playing a Defense card during your turn.
Example: Injustice Nightwing (Hero) — "+1 Power ... Defense: Discard this card to avoid an Attack. If you do, charge your Meter and put up to 2 cards with cost 4 or less from your discard pile into your hand."
Discarding a Defense card to avoid an Attack is not considered playing the card. Avoiding an Attack does not negate any of the Attack card's text prior to "Attack:" (like "Draw a card" or "+2 Power"). If an Attack would have no effect on a player, such as gaining a Weakness when the stack is empty, you may still use a Defense against it to gain the Defense reward.
Defeating a Nemesis
During your turn, you can spend Power equal to the cost of the top card of the Nemesis stack to defeat that Nemesis. If you do, gain the topmost face-up card from the Nemesis stack and place it into your discard pile, just like any other card you gain. These cards offer very powerful abilities and are worth a lot of VP at the end of the game. The next card in the Nemesis stack remains face down until your turn is over, so you may only gain 1 Nemesis per turn. When you eventually draw and play a Nemesis card, only resolve the text above the "First Appearance — Attack" text. That Attack text is only resolved when the Nemesis first appears on the stack and should be ignored at any other time during the game.
Example: Injustice Lex Luthor (Villain · Super-Villain, Level 2) — "You may put up to 3 Equipment from your discard pile into your hand. If you choose not to, +3 Power. First Appearance — Attack: Each player discards a random card. The player(s) who discards the card with the highest cost gains a Weakness."
During the End of Turn procedure, the next Nemesis card in the stack is flipped face up and it Attacks every player. Read aloud the text after "First Appearance — Attack:" and each player has the option to avoid the Attack with a Defense card. Each player who does not avoid the Attack must immediately resolve it against themselves. These Attacks are considered to happen during the turn of the player who just finished playing their cards.
New Concepts
Health and Damage
Each player starts the game with 20 health. This is tracked on your two Health Bars. When you take damage, move your Health marker to the right a number of spaces equal to the damage dealt. When your Health marker would move off the end of the first Health Bar, move it to the second Health Bar and continue moving it. When you get to the end of the second Health Bar, leave your Health marker on the 0 space and gain a KO'd token (see the next section for more details). While you have 0 health, you cannot be dealt any more damage. However, you still can be affected by other Attack effects, such as gaining Weakness cards or discarding cards.
The main way you will damage your foes is with Attack cards. These will either deal damage to a singular targeted foe or each foe depending on the wording of the Attack. If you deal damage to a foe in excess of their remaining health, you are considered to have dealt the full amount of damage. For example, if you deal 5 damage to a foe with 2 remaining health, they will move their Health marker down to 0 and you will be considered to have dealt 5 damage to that foe. However, once a foe is at 0 health, they cannot be dealt any additional damage. You may still target them with Attacks that deal damage, but you will not be considered to have dealt them any damage or successfully attacked them. When you reduce a foe to 0 health, you receive a 1 VP token that will add to your score at the end of the game.
When a card tells you to Heal, you move your Health marker to the left a number of spaces equal to the amount healed. This can cause you to move from your second Health Bar back to the first. You cannot Heal above your starting health of 20.
KO'd Tokens
When your health drops below 1, you are temporarily knocked out. Never fear, your sidekicks are there to drag you back to your base for a speedy recovery! You will reset your health back to 20 during the End of Turn procedure, but you won't come out of the fight completely unscathed. When you get KO'd, you immediately gain a KO'd token that is worth -3 VP at the end of the game. You can gather multiple KO'd tokens if you are knocked out multiple times during the game.
Note: Ignore the text on the back of the KO'd tokens unless you are playing Impossible Mode (see page 11).
Charge Meter, Meter Burn, and Super Move
Below the Health Bars on your Health Track, you will find your Charge Meter. Depending on player count, each player starts the game with 0 to 2 charges. Whenever you are told to "charge your Meter," move your Charge marker 1 space around the Meter. You can hold a maximum of 8 charges. If you would gain charges in excess of 8, your marker remains at 8. You may not spend charges in the middle of gaining charges in order to make room for additional charges. Charges carry over from turn to turn. Do not reset your Charge Meter to 0 at the end of your turn.
Your charges can be spent to pay for Meter Burn abilities. There is one of these printed on your Health Track. This Meter Burn ability allows you to play your Super Move. The "X" in the Meter Burn cost is equal to the charge cost on your Super Move card. When you spend the charges to activate your Super Move, play it. Then, return it under your Character. Note: Super Moves are not Attack cards and cannot be avoided with a Defense card.
Example: Mallet Bomb (Super Move, Harley Quinn) — "Play the top card of the main deck. Then, destroy it. Deal 1 unavoidable damage to each foe for each different card type among cards (including this one) you played this turn." Charge Cost 5.
Some main deck cards also provide ways to spend your Meter charges and trigger additional effects. These cards have the keyword "Meter Burn" followed by a number in parentheses. The number tells you how many charges you must spend from your Meter to resolve the text after the Meter Burn keyword. When you play a Meter Burn card, you do not have to choose to pay the Meter charges until you get to that part of the text. For example, you would get to see the card you draw from playing Running Man Stance before deciding to pay the charges to draw an additional card. If you decide not to use the Meter Burn ability, you cannot choose to pay the charge cost later in your turn. The Meter Burn ability on each card can only be used once per turn.
Example: Running Man Stance (Super Power) — "Draw a card. You may destroy a card in your hand. Meter Burn (2): Draw a card." Cost 5.
Note that if your Character charges your Meter by playing specific cards, you cannot use that charge to pay the Meter Burn cost of that card you just played, as those charges are not gained until after fully resolving the played card.
Additional Rules
Oversized Character Cards
Your Character gives you access to a unique ability. Most abilities can only be used on your turn, but some of them function during other players' turns as well. You should keep your ability in mind when deciding what cards to add to your deck. Some of the Characters are labeled as Super Heroes and others as Super-Villains. Those tags currently have no in-game function and only serve thematic purposes.
Example: Injustice Hawkgirl (Super-Villain) — "You may put Attack cards you gain on top of your deck. The first time you empty a foe's Health Bar each turn, draw a card."
Weakness
Some cards force players to gain 1 or more Weakness cards. If this happens, each affected player takes the indicated number of Weakness cards from the Weakness stack and places them into their discard pile, effectively adding them to their deck. If the Weakness stack runs out, abilities that would cause a player to gain a Weakness do not do so, but any other abilities those cards have still resolve as usual. A player may still use a Defense card to avoid an Attack, even when there are no Weakness cards available to be gained. When you draw a Weakness card, you may play it during your turn. If you do, deal 1 damage to yourself and then return the Weakness card to its stack. If this reduces your health to 0, you receive a KO'd token, but no one receives a 1 VP token. You still return the Weakness to the stack even if you are already at 0 health when you play the Weakness card. When the game ends, each Weakness in your deck subtracts 1 VP from your total.
Discarding Cards
When a card tells you to "discard" a card, it means from your hand as the default. However, a card may tell you to discard a card from another place, such as the top of your deck. Cards that are discarded this way count as being "discarded."
Ongoing
Some cards have the keyword "Ongoing:" in their game text. Ongoing cards go straight to your discard pile when gained, just like any other card. However, when you later draw and play an Ongoing card, that card will remain face up and in play in front of you for the rest of the game. Ongoing cards are not put into your discard pile at the end of your turn like all of the other cards you play. An Ongoing card counts as "played" only on the turn in which it entered play. The text after the word "Ongoing:" is not active while the card is in your hand, your discard pile, or the Line-Up and is only active for you while the card remains in play. The Ongoing ability may be used every turn. You may have any number of Ongoing cards in play at once.
Controlling Cards
You control the cards in your play zone. These include the cards you played this turn and Ongoing cards still in play from a previous turn. You do not control cards in your hand, deck, or discard pile.
Destroying Cards
Some cards give you the ability to destroy a card from your hand, your deck, the Line-Up, etc. When you destroy a card, place it into a face-up pile of destroyed cards anywhere away from the play area to show that it is no longer a part of the zone it came from. Destroying Starter and Weakness cards will improve your deck greatly! Return any destroyed Weakness and Flying Kick cards to their respective stacks.
Example: Injustice The Atom (Hero) — "+1 Power. Reveal the top card of your deck. Destroy it or return it."
Gaining Cards
Gaining a card is the process of taking ownership of that card. This occurs most often when you purchase a card by paying its cost. When a card tells a player to gain a card, that card is taken and immediately placed into that player's discard pile at no additional cost, unless otherwise directed.
Example: Green Lantern Power Ring (Equipment) — "You may gain a Hero from the Line-Up and put it into your hand. If you choose not to, draw a card. Meter Burn (2): Put a Hero from your discard pile into your hand."
Play Mode Variants
Short Game
Playing with new players or short on time? This variant shortens the overall game length. Play with only 3 KO'd tokens per player and add 1 less Level 3 Nemesis in the Nemesis stack.
Extended Game
Want your game to be an epic marathon? This variant lengthens the overall game time. Play with 5 KO'd tokens per player. Add a random Level 4 Nemesis to the bottom of the Nemesis stack.
(Not recommended for new players.)
Impossible Mode
After becoming familiar with the Injustice main deck, do you find yourself wanting a more challenging and unpredictable experience? This mode introduces Clash cards and KO'd token effects.
Clash Cards
Setup: Shuffle the 15 Clash cards into the main deck after filling the opening Line-Up.
Gameplay: When you add cards to the Line-Up, if you add a Clash card, pause the game and resolve the Ambush ability of the Clash card. If the card is an Ambush Attack, players may use a Defense card to avoid that Attack. Many of the Clash cards have a Meter Burn ability that allows players to avoid the damage caused by the Clash card. Players must decide to spend their charges before resolving the rest of the Clash card and determining the exact amount of damage they will receive. Will you wager your charges to prevent a massive hit or hope that the damage is minimal? After resolving the Clash card, remove it from the game and continue completing the previous action. Multiple Clash cards may end up resolving in the same turn.
If you gain, destroy, or play a card from the main deck and it is a Clash card, set that card aside and perform that action on the next card in the main deck. After fully resolving that action, return any set-aside Clash cards to the top of the deck so they are in the same order they were before being revealed.
KO'd Token Effects
Whenever you receive a KO'd token, flip it over and read the text on the back of the token. This text will either cause an additional penalty to you for losing the last of your health or give a bonus to the person who knocked you out. These are not Attacks and cannot be avoided with a Defense. After resolving the text, if the token does not have the Ongoing keyword, flip it face down. Otherwise, leave it text side up; you will be affected by the Ongoing penalty for the rest of the game.
Advanced Mode
Once you are familiar with Injustice and want to add more gameplay decisions, add the Arena cards to your games. When playing with Arena cards, apply the following changes to Setup and End of Turn procedures.
Setup:
- Shuffle the stack of Arena cards face down and count out a number of them equal to the number of cards in the Nemesis stack. Place these cards face down above the Line-Up. Flip the top card of the stack face up. Take the top card of the Nemesis stack and place it overlapping the top of the Arena card.
Diagram: Injustice The Joker (Super-Villain, Level 8) overlaps the top of the Watchtower Arena card. Watchtower has 5 boxes along its bottom edge: Javelin — "Meter Burn (1): Put this card on top of your deck." (linked by an arrow to the Line-Up slot holding Injustice Martian Manhunter), an empty box, Computer — "Charge your Meter." (linked by an arrow to the Line-Up slot holding Cyborg (Earth-1)), and two more empty boxes. The Line-Up beneath shows Injustice Martian Manhunter (Hero: "+2 Power. Each foe you successfully attacked this turn reveals a Villain from their hand. You may play one of the revealed cards. Then, return it."), Sword and Shield (Equipment: "+2 Power. Attack: Target foe gains a Weakness. Defense: Discard this card to avoid an Attack. If you do, draw a card and target foe gains a Weakness."), Cyborg (Earth-1) (Hero: "+2 Power. Each foe you successfully attacked this turn reveals an Equipment from their hand. You may play one of the revealed cards. Then, return it."), Heat Vision (Super Power: "+2 Power. Area Attack: Deal 3 damage to each foe."), and Injustice Killer Frost (Villain: "Draw a card. Attack: Target foe gains a Weakness.").
End of Turn:
- Before revealing a new Nemesis card, remove the top Arena card from the game and flip the next card in the stack face up. Place the next Nemesis card on top of the new Arena card.
Arena cards have 5 boxes along the bottom of the card, each corresponding to a slot in the Line-Up. Some of the boxes contain an environment feature that you can interact with. After you gain a card from the Line-Up, if that card's Arena slot has something to interact with, you may choose to resolve that ability. You must choose to do so immediately after gaining the card. You cannot use that ability later in your turn.
For example, after purchasing Injustice Martian Manhunter from the above Line-Up, you may spend 1 charge to use the Javelin and put that card on top of your deck. If you buy Cyborg (Earth-1) from the above Line-Up, you can use the Computer and charge your Meter. The other 3 Line-Up slots do not have anything to interact with and will not provide any bonuses for purchasing those cards.
Whenever you refill the Line-Up, first, slide all cards in the Line-Up to the left. Then, fill the remaining empty slots from left to right. If an ability causes you to add a card to the Line-Up and there are already 5 cards, start a new row of cards below the current row. This means that each slot could end up with more than 1 card, which would allow you to trigger the Arena ability multiple times by gaining multiple cards from the same slot.
Some Arena abilities allow you to deal damage to 1 or more foes. Note that this damage is not considered an Attack. Foes cannot use a Defense card to avoid the damage, and you are not considered to have successfully attacked that foe. Some Arena abilities require you to spend charges from your Meter. Refer to page 9 for more details on Meter Burn abilities.
The Arena Reminder tokens can be used to help players remember which cards in the Line-Up have Arena abilities associated with them. After refilling the Line-Up or transitioning the Arena, don't forget to reposition these tokens.
Mixing in Cards from Other Sets
Injustice is compatible with other DC Deck-Building Game products. Here are a few recommendations for setting up a game with mixed sets.
- When setting up the main deck, feel free to mix in the cards from any one of the Crossover or Crisis expansions. If you want to customize the cards in the main deck, we recommend not going over 140 cards. If you wish to add additional new cards, you should remove cards with similar type and cost.
- Each player who chooses an oversized Character from another set is dealt 2 random unused Super Move cards. They tuck one of those under their Character to use this game and return the other to the game box.
- Any standard-sized Super-Villain and Super Hero cards can be mixed into the Nemesis stack. When building the Nemesis stack, treat these cards as having a Level based on their cost:
| Cost | 8 | 9 or 10 | 11 or 12 | 13+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
Additional Players
You can use additional Starter cards (from another set) to play Injustice with more than 4 players. If you are playing with 5 players, use 1 less Level 2 Nemesis as you would in a 4-player game. If you are playing with 6 players, we recommend using the World Hopper rules found in the Multiverse expansion and the same number of Nemesis cards as a 3-player game.
Specific Card Clarifications
Main Deck Cards
Batarangs: The damage from this card's Defense will resolve against ALL foes, including the attacker and foes that used a Defense card to avoid the initial Attack. The damage from this Defense is applied before any damage from the initial Attack. This can result in you KO'ing a foe before the original attacker is able to KO that player.
Card text: "+2 Power and charge your Meter. Defense: Discard this card to avoid an Attack. If you do, charge your Meter, deal 1 unavoidable damage to each foe, and draw a card."
Cyborg / Flying Ground Slam / Injustice Martian Manhunter / Injustice Parasite / Injustice Raven: A foe is considered successfully attacked if they did not use a Defense card to avoid an Attack and were affected by that Attack, such as taking damage, discarding a card, gaining a Weakness, etc.
Card texts:
- Cyborg (Earth-1) (Hero) — "+2 Power. Each foe you successfully attacked this turn reveals an Equipment from their hand. You may play one of the revealed cards. Then, return it."
- Flying Ground Slam (Super Power) — "+3 Power. If you successfully attacked a foe this turn, +2 Power."
- Injustice Martian Manhunter (Hero) — "+2 Power. Each foe you successfully attacked this turn reveals a Villain from their hand. You may play one of the revealed cards. Then, return it."
- Injustice Parasite (Villain) — "+2 Power. Each foe you successfully attacked this turn reveals a Super Power from their hand. You may play one of the revealed cards. Then, return it."
- Injustice Raven (Villain) — "+2 Power. Each foe you successfully attacked this turn reveals a Hero from their hand. You may play one of the revealed cards. Then, return it."
Clash Cards
Have a Blast! / Total Anarchy: Since Weakness cards have a -1 VP value, they will reduce your VP total when determining who has the lowest / highest total. Weakness cards could result in a negative VP total for comparison purposes.
Card texts:
- Have a Blast! — "Ambush: The player(s) with the lowest total VP value on cards in their hand deals 5 unavoidable damage to target foe."
- Total Anarchy — "Ambush: The player(s) with the highest total VP value on cards in their hand gains 2 Weakness cards."
From the Shadows: Each player resolves the current Nemesis card's First Appearance — Attack against themself only once.
Card text: "Ambush: Each player resolves the current Nemesis card's First Appearance — Attack. If the current Nemesis is face down, its next Attack is unavoidable."
Nasty Surprise: If the Line-Up contains cards with cost 3, 4, 5, 2, and 5, both cards with cost 5 are destroyed. Each player is only dealt 5 damage once.
Card text: "Ambush: Destroy all cards in the Line-Up with the highest cost. Then, refill the Line-Up. Ambush Attack: The foe to your right deals damage to you equal to the cost of the destroyed card(s)."
System Failure: You decide if you want to Meter Burn to draw more cards after seeing the first 3 cards.
Card text: "Ambush: Each player discards their hand and draws 3 cards. Each player may Meter Burn (3): Draw 2 cards."
Oversized Character Cards
Injustice The Flash: You discard and draw a card before resolving the Attack. If you draw a Defense card, you may now use it to avoid the Attack.
Card text: "When you are attacked for the first time each turn, you may discard a card. If you do, draw a card. Each time you draw 1 or more cards during your turn, charge your Meter."
Injustice Hawkgirl: Each player has 2 Health Bars. A player's top Health Bar is emptied when their Health marker moves from the top bar to the bottom Health Bar. A player's bottom Health Bar is emptied when their Health marker moves to 0.
Card text: "You may put Attack cards you gain on top of your deck. The first time you empty a foe's Health Bar each turn, draw a card."
Credits
Game Design: Nathaniel Yamaguchi Game Development: Mataio Wilson Graphic Design: John Vineyard, Larry Renac, Katie Pelaez, Victoria Eggers Editor: Shahriar Fouladi Playtesters: Richelle Brady, Eric Chae, Robert Gasio, Rezwan Kabir, Ryan Skinner, Joshua Tompkins, Edgar, and many others.
Cryptozoic Entertainment
CEO & Founder: John Sepenuk Founder: Cory Jones Founder: John Nee Director, Product Development & Marketing: Shahriar Fouladi Director, Operations: Ming Wan Sales: Tim Korklewski Business Manager: Rumi Asai Special Thanks: Carl Braun, Julie Castro, Rachel Del Rio, Matt Hoffman, Austin Mercado, Chris Mixer, Malcolm Morales, Jeff Parker, Colin Robinson, MaryCarmen Wilber
In this box you will find two special components. These are for the DC Deck-Building Game: Multiverse Box, a large and sturdy box that you can use to store your DC Deck-Building Game cards.
The plastic Multiverse Divider is used in the box to keep your Injustice cards separate from the rest. The Randomizer card is used in a special Multiverse game format, in which you get to use your entire collection! The Multiverse Box also includes over 50 new cards that enhance this game format.
Turn Sequence (Quick Reference)
- Resolve "start of turn" abilities.
- Play cards from your hand.
- Total up your Power and purchase cards with combined cost less than or equal to that total.
- As soon as you gain a card, place it into your discard pile, unless instructed otherwise. Do not immediately replace the cards you gain.
- You may play additional cards even after making purchases.
End of Turn
- Announce that you are ending your turn.
- Put any cards remaining in your hand into your discard pile.
- Resolve any "end of turn" abilities.
- Put all cards you played into your discard pile. Any unspent Power is lost.
- Draw 5 cards from your deck.
- If there are less than 5 cards in the Line-Up, add cards from the top of the main deck to the Line-Up until there are 5.
- If the top card of the Nemesis stack is face down, flip it up and read aloud its "First Appearance — Attack."
- Every player who was KO'd this turn resets their health to 20.
- Your turn is now over. The next player in the turn sequence starts their turn.
End of Game
The game ends when either of the following 3 conditions is met:
- At the end of the turn in which the last KO'd token is given out.
- At the end of the turn in which the last Nemesis is defeated.
- Immediately when you are unable to refill the Line-Up to 5 cards.
The player with the highest total VP on their cards and tokens wins.