Invincible: The Card Game Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Object of the Game
• Contents
• Component Anatomy
  • City Cards
  • Player Cards
  • Player Mats
  • Villain Cards
  • Villain Mat
  • Villain Level Tokens
  • Difficulty Tokens
• Setup
  • Player Setup
  • City Setup
  • Supply Setup
  • Setup — Clarification
  • Turn Order Deck
  • Villain Setup
  • Setup Example
• Gameplay
  • Turn Order
  • Player Turn Overview
• Player Turn
  • Player Turn: 1 — Attack Phase
  • Player Turn: 2 — Main Phase
  • Player Turn: 3 — Draw Phase
• Villain Turn
  • Villain Turn Overview
  • Villain Turn: 1 — Main Phase
  • Villain Turn: 2 — Draw Phase
• Villain Turn — Leveling Up
  • Empty Villain Deck — Level Tokens
• Exhausted
• Game End
• Expeditions
  • Expedition Rules
  • Expedition Setup
  • Game Setup
  • Upgrades
• Solo Play
• Variable Difficulty
• Game Terms

Object of the Game

Invincible: The Card Game is a cooperative deck-building game where your deck is never shuffled. Your goal is to defeat the Villain before it destroys your team or the City you're defending.

Each round, the players and the Villain take turns in a random order. During a player's turn, they can acquire Fuel, Tech, and Weapons from the supply, equip and attack with those Weapons based on the number of slots they have, gain new slots, power up, and use their special ability. All four of the Villains in this game have their own decks and abilities, and a different strategy will be required to defeat each one.

Players must work as a team to conquer this threat. Communicating about the game and formulating plans to defeat the Villain is not just allowed, it's encouraged!

This game is based off the game Astro Knights. If you are familiar with the rules of that game, you can check out the content highlighted in red on the following pages: Assist on pages 5 and 22. NONE player count on page 7. Debris on page 12. Stun on page 24. Active Player on page 32. Enemy on page 32.

The following terms changed from Astro Knights to this game: Knight becomes Hero. Boss becomes Villain. Homeworld becomes City. Cargo Bay becomes Headquarters.

Contents

• 4 player number tokens: Placed on player mats and used in conjunction with the turn order cards to determine play order.
• Wild turn order token: This is used in a 3-player game to determine who is going to take the next wild turn.
• 1/2 and 3/4 tokens: These tokens are used when playing a 4-player game. They are used to track who has already taken a turn this round.
• 12 turn order cards: Used to determine the order of play during the game.
• 13 card dividers: Used to organize the cards.
• 4 reference cards: Used to assist players during gameplay.
• narrative booklet: Contains the story and the rules for playing the Invincible: The Card Game expedition. When you're ready to start your expedition, begin reading this booklet on page 1.
• 7 Stop decks: Contain all the starter cards, player cards, and Villain cards needed for the expedition. These will be opened when the narrative booklet instructs you to.
• 3 envelopes: Contain new challenges you will unlock throughout the campaign. These will be opened when the narrative booklet instructs you to.
• 2 health dials: Used to track the health of the Villain and the City.
• 17 discs: 4 each of red and yellow to track players' health and slots. 5 blue to track players' and the City's power. One black disc to be used as the Villain disc for certain Villains. Plus, an additional red, yellow, and blue disc will be used for Team Attacks, which you will earn during your expedition.
• 1 City card: Used to track the important information for the City.
• 1 Villain mat: Used to display the specific rules and track important information for the Villain.
• 4 player mats: Used to track the important information for each player.
• health tokens: 24 health tokens with a value 1, 10 health tokens with a value 5: used to track the health of the Minions.
• 1 Villain difficulty token: Used when playing Expert and Nightmare difficulties.
• 4 Villain level tokens: Used to display the specific rules for the Villain level.

Component Anatomy

City Cards

In this game, players must defend a City from a Villain invasion. There are several Cities where players can choose to stage their battle. City cards represent those locations.

1. City name
2. Starting health: This is the amount of health the City starts the game with. This is also the City's maximum health. If the City's health ever reaches 0, the players lose.
3. City ability: The ability can be used during any player's turn as long as the City is fully powered up. After the ability is used, the City powers down completely.
4. Card number
5. City power track: Use a blue disc to track how much power the City has. The starburst indicates the City's starting amount of power.

Player Cards

Player cards are the various cards the players can use to build their decks in order to defeat the Villain. Each player starts with a unique hand and deck of cards. Players can gain more cards for their deck from the supply decks by spending energy (⚡).

1. Afterburn: Some cards have Afterburn: effects, shown in their top left corner. The Afterburn: effect of a card can only be used when it is in your discard pile. Afterburn: means "Once per turn, during your main phase, if this is in your discard pile, you may resolve this effect." You can use this effect when you gain this card on your turn since it will be in your discard pile during your main phase. They are formatted so that you can splay your discard pile sideways to easily see what Afterburn: effects you have access to.
2. Card name
3. Cost: The amount of energy (⚡) you must spend to gain this card.
4. Type: There are three types of player cards: Fuel, Tech, and Weapons.
   1. Fuel cards are played to gain energy (⚡). Energy can be spent to gain more cards, power up your Hero, and gain slots. (Slots determine how many Weapons you can have equipped during your turn.)
   2. Tech cards have a variety of useful instantaneous effects. The Tech supply deck also has a special ability called Overcharge. See the Main Phase section for more information on Overcharging Tech cards.
   3. Weapon cards are the main way of dealing damage to the Villain and its Minions. Weapons must be equipped before you can attack with them. In most cases, you will only be able to attack with your Weapon the turn after you equip it.
5. Effect: The effect you resolve when you play the card. Fuel and Tech have effects that are resolved immediately. Weapons have "ATTACK:" effects that resolve when you attack with them later. They must be equipped first. If any card contradicts this rulebook, follow the card's effect.

Some cards have the keyword "ASSIST:". The ASSIST: effect of a card can only be triggered during an ally's turn, not your own turn. During an ally's turn, you may place a card with "ASSIST:" from your hand onto your player mat. If you do, you resolve that card's "ASSIST:" effect. You can play as many cards with this keyword in a turn as you want. At the beginning of your next turn, you return all of the cards that you placed on your mat to your hand. While these cards are on your mat, they are not considered to be in your hand. When playing solo, you may play each card for its "ASSIST:" effect once on your turn, then return it to your hand.

ASSIST EXAMPLE: It's Lisa's turn. She has played all of her cards and has 6 ⚡. There is a Weapon (Acrobatics) in the supply that costs 7⚡ that Lisa has had her eye on. Lisa asks her teammates if anyone has an assist card that will give Lisa 1 ⚡. Bob replies that he has one that will give Lisa 1 ⚡. Bob places Aerial Assault from his hand onto his player mat. Lisa now has the 7 ⚡ she needs to buy Acrobatics.

6. Supply deck: This icon denotes which supply deck the card starts the game in. They will be returned to that deck at the end of the game. See setup for more information.
7. Card number

Player Mats

1. Health track: Each player tracks their health with a red disc. The starburst indicates the Hero's starting health. Players have a maximum health equal to the highest number on their health track, which is usually 10. When a player's life is reduced to 0, that player becomes exhausted. See the Exhausted section for more information about becoming exhausted.
2. Slot track: Each player tracks their slots with a yellow disc. The starburst indicates the Hero's starting number of slots. The highest number on the track is the maximum number of slots this Hero can have. The number of slots you have determines how many Weapons you can have equipped at the same time during your turn.
3. Hero name
4. Power track: Each player tracks their power with a blue disc. The starburst indicates the Hero's starting amount of power.
5. Ability: Each Hero has a unique ability, which can only be activated when you are fully powered up. Once you activate your ability, you power down completely, which means you move the blue disc to the 0 space on the power track.
6. Player number: Place your player number token here. Player number is used in conjunction with the turn order deck to determine turn order.
7. Hero info: Background information on the character.
8. Specialties: This is a brief synopsis of what this character does best: Early Damage (dealing damage in the early game), Late Damage (dealing large damage late in the game), Energy (generating large amounts of energy), Healing (restoring health), Support (helping allies or the City), and Flexibility (having a good starting point for several strategies).
9. Hero lore: Has no effect on play. Provides further lore into the world of Invincible.
10. Additional Rules: Some Heroes have additional rules regarding unique tokens, cards, or effects. These rules may impact setup and/or gameplay.
11. Starting hand: The five cards which you will have in your hand at the start of the game.
12. Starting deck: The five cards, and the order in which they are placed in your starting deck. Place the leftmost cards at the top of your starting deck. See page 10 for more info.

Note: Rex Splode actually has a ten card starting deck.

Villain Cards

Villain cards are the Minions and Strikes the Villain uses against the players and the City. Each Villain has its own unique deck of cards which is shuffled at the beginning of the game and a few times throughout the game. You may fight the same Villain many times, but it will never attack you in exactly the same way twice.

1. Card name
2. Type: There are two types of Villain cards: Minions and Strikes.
   • Minions are the underlings or environmental hazards caused by the Villain. They enter play with health tokens and stay in play until defeated. They usually have "ACTIVATE:" effects which are resolved during the Villain main phase.
   • Strikes are resolved immediately and then discarded.
3. Health: Minion cards have health which can be depleted by dealing them damage. If the health of a Minion reaches 0, it is defeated and placed in the Villain discard pile. Minions have no maximum health.
4. Effect: The effect of the card. Strike cards are resolved immediately. Minion cards typically have "ACTIVATE:" effects that are resolved starting on the next Villain turn.
5. Player count: This number denotes at which player counts this card starts the game in the Villain deck. Any card that does not correspond to the current player count will start in the Villain discard pile.

EXAMPLE: In a two-player game, you will start with the cards labeled "All" and "2+" in the Villain deck. The cards labeled "3+" and "4" will start in the Villain discard pile.

Cards with no player count number

Some Villains have cards that are not used in their Villain deck, and are instead used in a Villain side deck. These cards have nothing in the player count section of the card. The setup section on the back of the Villain mat will have instructions for how to set these cards up, and the rules section of the Villain mat will explain how they are used in the game.

6. Card number

DEFEATED: Some Minions have the keyword "DEFEATED:". When a Minion with a "DEFEATED:" effect is discarded from play, the player who discarded that Minion resolves the "DEFEATED:" effect as completely as possible.

CARDS WITH "NONE" PLAYER COUNT NUMBER: Some Villains have cards with NONE in the player count section. These cards are placed in the Villain discard pile at the start of the game. They are shuffled into the Villain deck when the Villain levels up.

Villain Mat

1. Scouting report: This includes lore for the Villain as well as helpful tips for fighting it.
2. Health: Starting health of the Villain. The Villain's health is tracked on its health dial. If the health of the Villain reaches 0, the players win. Villains have no maximum health.
3. Setup: Additional instructions for setup when fighting this Villain.
4. Challenge Rating: How challenging this Villain is compared to other Villains. The challenge rating ranges from 1 (easiest) to 10 (most challenging).
5. Max level: This value is the highest level the Villain can level up to.
6. Villain track: Some Villains have a Villain track. The setup describes how to set up this track, and the rules will describe how the track works.

Note: Some Villains have special tracks that appear on the front of the Villain mats.

7. Villain name
8. Rules: Any rules that pertain to this specific Villain.
9. Exhaust effect: Each Villain has an effect that resolves immediately when a player becomes exhausted (drops to 0 health).
10. Difficulty rating: To play on Normal difficulty, just use the rules on the Villain mat. If you want to play Expert or Nightmare difficulty, use the corresponding side of the difficulty token for the Villain you are playing against.
11. Level: Each Villain starts at level 1. When a Villain levels up, the token for the next level is placed here and the Villain and its Minions gain new abilities. See page 26 for more on leveling up.

Villain Level Tokens

The Villain starts the game at level 1 with no additional abilities. When the Villain runs out of cards to draw from its deck, it levels up. Each time the Villain levels up, its discard pile is shuffled facedown to re-form its deck, and it gains a new level token (replacing the former level token if one is already in place). See page 26 for more information about leveling up.

1. Level number: This determines the order in which the level tokens will come into play. The Villain starts at level 1 with no token. When the level 2 token comes into play, it adds additional effects to what is shown on the Villain mat. When level 3 comes into play, it replaces the level 2 token and its effects, and so on with further levels.

Note: The Flaxans have a level 1 token. Most Villains do not have a level 1 token.

2. Effect: These are the effects that the level token has on the game. Level tokens have "INSTANT:" effects that are resolved when the level token is placed into play. Some level tokens have "ACTIVATE:" effects which are resolved at the start of every Villain main phase.
3. Villain name: This is the name of the Villain this token belongs to.
4. Minion bonus: When a Villain levels up, its Minions become stronger. This number shows how much additional health all Minions will come into play with for the rest of that level. This bonus affects Minions from the Villain deck as well as Minions from any other deck the Villain may have.

Difficulty Tokens

Each Villain can be played on three different difficulties: Normal, Expert, or Nightmare. To play on Normal, just follow all the rules written on the Villain mat. To play at either of the harder difficulties, follow the instructions on the difficulty token that corresponds to the Villain and difficulty you would like to play. Difficulty tokens may change setup, the Villain rules, or even which side of the level tokens to use.

1. Difficulty: Expert or Nightmare.
2. Effect: This section describes what changes are in effect for this difficulty. This section can affect the Villain's level tokens, setup, or rules.
3. Villain: Which Villain this token belongs to.

Setup

Player Setup

1. Each player chooses a player mat and a player number token.
2. Each player builds their starting hand and deck as shown on the back of their player mat. The cards should be in the order shown with the leftmost card being the top card of their deck and the rightmost card being the bottom card of their deck.

Note: The starting Heroes have Determinations and Punches with those characters in the art. You can mix and match Determinations and Punches with other Heroes when you unlock those Heroes.

3. Each player places a blue disc on their power track, a red disc on their health track, and a yellow disc on their slot track. Each of these three discs starts on the space of the track highlighted by the starburst and black number. Players can never have more power, health, or slots than the highest number of those tracks.

City Setup

4. Choose a City to defend. Place a blue disc on the starburst space of the City's power track. Set the City health dial to the starting health shown on the City card. The City can never have more than its starting health.

Supply Setup

5. The supply decks hold the cards that the players can gain during the game to make their decks stronger. The supply is composed of six supply decks. Each deck contains copies of several different cards. At the start of the game, shuffle each supply deck separately and place it facedown in the middle of the table. Then, turn the top card of each deck faceup.

Whenever the top card of a supply deck is gained or destroyed, reveal the next card in that deck.

Each supply deck has a different theme:

• The first deck is Fuel cards that cost 3 energy (⚡) or less. There are 10 cards in this deck in this game; more can be added with expansions.
• The second deck is Fuel cards that cost 4 energy (⚡) or more. There are 10 cards in this deck in this game; more can be added with expansions.
• The third deck is Tech cards of various costs. There are 8 cards in this deck in this game; more can be added with expansions.
• The fourth deck is Weapon cards that cost 4 energy (⚡) or less. There are 10 cards in this deck in this game; more can be added with expansions.
• The fifth deck is Weapon cards that cost 5–6 energy (⚡). There are 9 cards in this deck in this game; more can be added with expansions.
• The sixth deck is Weapon cards that cost 7 energy (⚡) or more. There are 8 cards in this deck in this game; more can be added with expansions.

DEBRIS CARDS: Debris cards are a special type of Weapon card that can only be gained with certain card effects or abilities. Debris have a cost of 2 ⚡ and deal 2 damage when you attack with them. They cannot be bought and are not considered part of the supply. Set the deck of them next to the supply.

Setup — Clarification

Note: The following are instructions for how to mix this content with Astro Knights games. If you own those, read this page. Otherwise, skip to the next page.

Mixing Supply Decks - If you have multiple waves of content, here are some ways you can create the supply, along with some of the positives and negatives associated with them:

• One Wave: Use supply cards from only one wave of content. A wave of content is the big box and small expansions that came out at the same time.
  • Positive: Waves typically have themes/mechanics that are spread throughout the different supply decks. This method grants the most access to those synergies.
  • Negative: Less diversity of options.
• Mixed Supply: For each supply deck, choose a wave and play with that deck. Example: Play with all of the Fuel decks from Astro Knights/The Orion System, the Tech from Astro Knights: Eternity, and use all of the Weapon decks from this game and its expansions.
  • Positive: Easy setup with greater card diversity.
  • Negative: Less overall market balance.
• All Content: Mix all of your supply cards together, keeping the cards in their appropriate decks.
  • Positive: Lots of diversity and easy setup.
  • Negative: Less likely to see the cards with mechanics that are better in multiples.
• Preconstructed: Using all of the supply cards you own, you can build supply decks tailored around the cards and mechanics you like best before the game starts. See Size of Supply Decks below for information on how big the decks should be.
  • Positive: Play with all your favorite cards.
  • Negative: Time-consuming setup.

Size of Supply Decks - Some Villains interact with the supply decks. These Villains can be easier or harder depending on how many cards are included in the supply decks. When playing these Villains, use the following chart to determine how many cards should be in each deck:

Deck	Minimum	Maximum
Fuel 3 ⚡ or less	10	14
Fuel 4 ⚡ or less	10	14
Tech	8	12
Weapons 4 ⚡ or less	10	15
Weapons 5–6 ⚡	8	12
Weapons 7 ⚡ +	7	10

At the end of the game, you can sort the cards by their card numbers. The original Astro Knights has a three-digit card number. All of the other sets have a letter prefix that indicates which expansion the cards belong to. Cards with a card number starting with "P" are promos. These cards can be mixed with any wave.

Turn Order Deck

6. The turn order deck is composed of four player turn order cards and two Villain turn order cards. The player turn order cards correspond to the player number tokens.

• For two players, place two turn order cards for each player in the deck.
• For three players, place one turn order card for each player plus the wild turn order card in the deck. Give the wild token to any player at the start of the game. Each round, the player with the wild token will take two turns and pass the token to the player on their left. The other players will take one turn that round. See page 18 for more information.
• For four players, place the two 1/2 and two 3/4 turn order cards in the deck. Set the corresponding tokens on the table. When a player card is drawn, the two players will choose which will take the turn and which will wait until the second card. The token is used to track which of the two players have taken their turn that round. See page 18 for more information.
• For solo players, if you are using only one Hero, place the two player 1 turn order cards, the player 1/2 turn order card, and two Villain turn order cards in the deck. When any player turn order card is drawn, the solo player takes a turn.

If you are using more than one Hero, use the setup above based on how many Heroes you are using.

NOTE: In all player counts, there will be two Villain turn order cards in the deck.

When a turn order card must be drawn or revealed and the turn order deck is empty, shuffle all of the turn order cards together and place them facedown to make the turn order deck again. Before the game begins, make sure to shuffle your turn order cards.

Villain Setup

7. Choose a Villain to fight, and set its Villain mat near the players. Carefully read all of the rules for the chosen Villain.
8. Choose a difficulty to play on: Normal, Expert, or Nightmare. If you want to play on Expert or Nightmare, find the corresponding difficulty token, set it into play, and follow any setup rules on it. See page 31 for more on difficulty. When you are playing expedition, your difficulty will be determined by the expedition rank you chose. See page 28 for more information about expeditions.
9. Set the Villain health dial equal to the number shown on the back of the Villain mat.
10. Find the deck that corresponds to the Villain you are fighting. Search those cards for all of the cards that have a player count number that corresponds to the number of players in your game. Shuffle those cards and place them facedown to form the Villain deck. Some Villains may start with little to no cards in their deck at lower player counts. Place all of the other Villain cards in the Villain discard pile. DO NOT remove these cards from the game. They will be used when the Villain levels up. See the "Player Count" section on page 7 for an example.

VILLAIN CARDS WITHOUT A PLAYER COUNT: Depending on which Villain you're playing against, there may be Villain cards without a player count number. These are not used in the Villain deck, and are instead used in a Villain side deck. Refer to the Villain mat for specific setup instructions for these cards.

11. Follow all setup instructions on the back of the Villain mat.
12. Set the Villain level tokens near the Villain mat. The effects on these tokens are known to the players from the start of the game, but they do not take effect until they are placed into play.

Setup Example

The example setup shows: Supply cards drawn face-up for the six supply decks plus a Debris deck; the turn order deck shuffled and ready; two players' starting hands and decks — Invincible with a starting hand of 3× Determination, 1× Endure, 1× Punch and a starting deck of 2× Determination, 1× Seeing Red, 2× Punch, and Atom Eve similarly built from her own card list; both player mats with their discs set on the starburst spaces; the Villain level tokens (Normal Level 2, 3, and 4) staged near the mat; the Villain health dial set to 50; the Villain deck and discard pile formed (in lower player count games, some Villain cards start in the discard pile); the Villain side deck of Infantry cards (explained in setup and rules); a City card (Chicago, health 27) and its health dial set to 27; and the special setup called for by The Flaxans' Villain mat — placing the Normal Level 1 token into play and placing two Infantry into play, as instructed by the Villain's own setup text.

Gameplay

Turn Order

Invincible: The Card Game has a variable turn order which is determined by the turn order deck. At the start of the game and after each turn ends, draw a card from the turn order deck to determine who takes the next turn, and place it on top of the turn order discard pile. When a Villain card is drawn, immediately resolve the Villain turn. If a player card is drawn, a player will take that turn.

Once the player or Villain turn is resolved, draw the next turn order card. If you need to draw or reveal a card from the turn order deck and that deck is empty, shuffle the discarded turn order cards together facedown to replenish the turn order deck.

Repeat this process until the game ends. See page 27 for more on game end.

In a one- or two-player game, the player whose number matches the drawn card will take the turn.

In a three-player game, the player whose number matches the drawn card will take the turn. When the wild player card is drawn, the player with the wild token will take the turn and then pass the token to the player on their left.

The wild turn order card is a player turn order card. When an effect refers to the wild turn order card, the player with the wild token is affected.

In a four-player game, one of the two players whose number corresponds to the card will take the turn. The players may choose between them which of the two will take the turn and which will wait until the second copy of that turn order card is drawn. The player taking the turn places the corresponding player token (1/2 or 3/4) on their player mat to indicate they have taken their turn this round. When the same card is drawn later, the other player whose number corresponds to the card takes a turn and the token is returned to the middle of the table.

Player Turn Overview

1. Attack Phase You may attack with any of your equipped Weapons. After you finish resolving the attack effect of a Weapon, place it on top of your discard pile.
2. Main Phase You may resolve the following actions in any order and as many times as you want:
   1. Play a Fuel or Tech
   2. Gain a card
   3. Overcharge a Tech
   4. Gain a slot
   5. Equip a Weapon
   6. Power up
   7. Activate your ability
   8. Receive Assist: effects
   9. Activate the City's ability
   10. Fulfill/Activate your Team Attack (Once per turn)
   11. Activate an Afterburn: effect (Once per card)
3. Draw Phase Place all the Fuel and Tech cards that you have played this turn on the top of your discard pile in any order. Then, you may discard any of the cards still in your hand to your discard pile in any order. Draw cards from the top of your deck until you have five cards in hand.

Player Turn

Player Turn: 1 — Attack Phase

Attack with equipped Weapons:

• You may attack with any Weapons that you have equipped, in any order. Weapons you do not attack with remain equipped.
• You can only attack with your equipped Weapons. Weapons you have in your hand will need to be equipped during your main phase, so that you can attack with them on a later turn.

When you attack with a Weapon:

• Resolve the effects listed after "ATTACK:" on that card in the order that they are written.
• That Weapon can only deal damage to a single Minion or the Villain unless otherwise specified.
• After you resolve the "ATTACK:" effect, place that Weapon on top of your discard pile.

When you deal damage:

• To a Minion, remove health tokens from that Minion card equal to the damage you dealt. When a Minion has no health tokens remaining, it is defeated and immediately discarded to the discard pile for the deck it originated from.
• To the Villain, reduce its health total on the Villain health dial by the amount of damage you dealt. When the Villain has 0 health, the players immediately win.

There are some effects in this game that will allow you to attack with another player's Weapon. When attacking with a Weapon other than your own, you are the "you" referred to on the Weapon card. You make all decisions pertaining to that Weapon and spend any associated costs. When that Weapon is discarded, it is placed on top of the discard pile of the player who had it equipped.

Player Turn: 2 — Main Phase

The following eleven actions can be done in any order, any number of times during a player's main phase.

For example, you could play a Fuel, gain a card, equip a Weapon, play another Fuel card, and gain another card.

a. Play a Fuel or Tech card:

• When you play a card, you resolve all of the text on that card. If you can't resolve all of the text, resolve as much as possible.
• If there is an "OR," choose exactly one of the options listed.
• You may gain energy (⚡) even if you choose not to spend it.
• Any unspent energy (⚡) gained on a turn is lost at the end of the turn. Energy does not accumulate over turns, nor can it be given to other players.
• At the end of your turn, any Fuel or Tech cards you played are placed on top of your discard pile in any order.

b. Gain a card:

• You may gain a card from the top of any supply deck by spending energy (⚡) equal to the cost shown in the middle right-hand section of the card.
• When you gain a card, it is immediately placed on top of your discard pile.
• After you gain a card from a supply deck, immediately reveal the next card in that supply deck.
• Some cards have "BUY:" effects. When you gain this card, you immediately resolve its "BUY:" effect whether you paid energy (⚡) for it or gained it for free using an ability.

DISCARD ORDER: When you attack with a Weapon, place it on top of your discard pile after you have resolved its effect. When you gain a card, place it on top of your discard pile.

Any Fuel or Tech cards that you play are placed in your play area. At the end of your turn, during the draw phase, played Fuel and Tech cards will be placed in your discard pile in any order you choose.

c. Overcharge a Tech:

• The Tech supply deck has a special ability called Overcharge. To Overcharge a Tech, spend energy (⚡) equal to its cost, resolve its effect, and place it on the bottom of its supply deck. Overcharge offers you the opportunity for an immediate boost at the cost of not adding the card to your deck to use later.

Inventions cannot be overcharged. For more information on Inventions, see page 29.

d. Gain a slot:

• You can spend 3 energy (⚡) to gain a slot. When you do this, move the yellow disc one space up on the slot track of your player mat.
• Slots determine how many Weapons you can have equipped during your turn.
• When the yellow disc is at the top of the slot track on your mat, you can't gain slots.

NOTE: Some Villain cards may result in you losing slots. This does not affect the number of Weapons you currently have equipped, only how many you may have equipped on your next turn. If you start the turn with more equipped Weapons than you have slots, you must attack with your Weapons until that is not the case.

e. Equip a Weapon:

• To equip a Weapon, place that card on the table above your player mat. You must have more slots than you have equipped Weapons in order to equip it.
• Some Weapons have an "EQUIP:" effect. This effect resolves immediately when you equip that Weapon.
• You can attack with your equipped Weapons during the attack phase of your next turn.

f. Power up:

• You may spend 2 energy (⚡) to power up.
• When you power up, move your blue disc up one space on your power track.
• You may not spend energy (⚡) to power up your allies or the City.
• You may not power up if you are at Full Power.

NOTE: Some Villain cards may result in you powering down. If an effect says to "power down once," you move your blue disc down one space on the power track.

g. Activate your ability:

• When you are at Full Power (i.e. the blue disc on your power track is on the top space), you can activate your ability. First, power all the way down (move the disc back to the 0 space). Then, resolve the text of your ability.
• You are allowed to activate your ability more than once a turn as long as you have enough power to do so.

h. Receive ASSIST: effects:

• Some player cards have ASSIST: effects. If an ally has a card with this type of effect in their hand, they may place this card from their hand onto their player mat. If they do, you resolve that card's "ASSIST:" effect.
• Allies can play as many cards with this keyword in a turn as they want.
• Players may assist their allies during their Attack Phase or Main Phase.
• At the beginning of their next turn, they return all of the cards that they placed on their mat to their hand.
• While these cards are on a player's mat, they are not considered to be in that player's hand.
• When playing solo, you may play each card for its "ASSIST:" effect once on your turn, then return it to your hand.

i. Activate the City's ability:

• Some player cards and abilities allow you to power up the City. The City has a power track similar to the one on your player mat. You will move the blue disc up one space on the City's power track when the City powers up.
• During your main phase, anytime the City is at Full Power, you may activate the City's ability. First, power the City all the way down. Then, resolve the ability printed on the City card.
• You are allowed to activate the City's ability more than once a turn as long as it has enough power to do so.

j. Fulfill/Activate your Team Attack:

• You will not gain access to your Team Attack until fight four of your expedition. When they are unlocked, find more information about Team Attacks on page 30.

k. Activate an Afterburn effect:

• Some player cards have Afterburn: effects, which can be found on the left hand side of the card.
• An Afterburn: effect can only be activated while in your discard pile. Keeping your discard pile splayed out can help you see what Afterburn: effects are available to you.
• When you activate an Afterburn: effect, resolve the text in the red box fully, and then leave the card in the same place in your discard pile.
• Once you have activated a card's Afterburn: effect, you cannot activate it again until your next main phase. If you have multiple cards in your discard pile with Afterburn: effects, you can activate them each once per main phase.

Player Turn: 3 — Draw Phase

Once you have finished your main phase, place all of the Fuel and Tech cards you played this turn on top of your discard pile in any order. Then, you may discard any of the cards still in your hand to your discard pile in any order. Finally, draw cards from the top of your deck until you have five cards in hand.

If at any time there are not enough cards in your deck to draw or reveal a card, draw/reveal as many as you can and then flip over your discard pile to form a new deck and draw/reveal. At no point in the game do you shuffle your deck.

Notes:

• You are allowed to keep cards in your hand for next turn instead of playing them. However, you are not forced to keep any cards you can't play or equip.
• You may look through your discard pile at any time, although you may not rearrange it.
• You may not look through your deck.

NO DECK SHUFFLING: Unlike many other deck-building games, you do not shuffle your discard pile when your deck is empty. You simply flip your discard pile over to form your deck. This allows you to plan out your coming turns based on what cards you know you are going to draw.

Villain Turn

Villain Turn Overview

Villain turns are divided into two phases: main phase and draw phase.

1. Main phase Resolve the "ACTIVATE:" effect on any level tokens in play, and then any Minions in play, from oldest to newest.
2. Draw phase Draw a card from the Villain deck.
   • If it is a Strike card, resolve its effect immediately and then place it in the Villain discard pile.
   • If it is a Minion card, place it into play, add health tokens to it equal to its health plus any bonus health from the current level token, and resolve any "INSTANT:" effects. The Minion's "ACTIVATE:" effects will not be resolved this turn.

If the Villain deck is empty when you enter the draw phase, the Villain immediately levels up. See page 26 for more on leveling up.

If at any time a player's health is reduced to zero, that player is exhausted. See page 27 for more details.

AMBIGUITY: Villain cards may have ambiguous situations where it's not clear what or whom should be affected. In these cases, the players make that determination.

For example, if you are resolving a Villain card that causes the player with the lowest health to suffer damage and two players are tied for having the lowest health, the players decide who suffers the damage.

If a Villain card forces you to resolve an effect that cannot be fully resolved, resolve as much of that effect as possible. See When resolving card effects: on page 25.

STUN: Some effects will allow a player to stun an enemy, a minion, or the Villain. (An enemy is the Villain or a minion.) When you stun an enemy, place a stun token on that enemy. Then next time that enemy would resolve an ACTIVATE: effect, skip that effect and remove the stun token. If the Villain does not yet have a level token with an ACTIVATE: effect, the token remains until they have one.

Each enemy can have up to one stun token on it. Other types of effects on enemies are not affected by stun tokens.

Villain Turn: 1 — Main Phase

If the Villain has a level token, resolve any "ACTIVATE:" effects on it.

Then, starting with the Minion card that has been in play the longest, the players will resolve the "ACTIVATE:" effects of each Minion card in play.

Order of resolution: 1. the Villain's level token, then 2., 3., 4. the Minions in play in order from oldest to newest.

Villain Turn: 2 — Draw Phase

Draw a Villain card:

If the drawn card type is:

• Strike card Resolve the card's effect immediately in the order that it appears on the card. Then, place the card in the Villain discard pile.
• Minion card Place the Minion card into play to the right of any other Minion cards in play, or if there are none, place it below the Villain mat. Then, add the number of health tokens indicated on the middle right of the card. When a Minion comes into play, it also gains bonus health equal to the number shown on the lower right corner of the Villain level token, if it has one. Finally, resolve any effect that follows the word "INSTANT:".

When resolving card effects:

• If an effect cannot be fully completed, resolve as much as possible. If you are given an option between two or more effects, you must choose an option you can fully resolve.

EXAMPLE: Battalion Forward is drawn. It is a Strike, so its effect is resolved immediately. Its effect is "Place two Infantry into play. OR Any player loses 2 slots." If no player has two slots, then you must place two Infantry into play.

• "ACTIVATE:" effects only occur during the Villain main phase. A Minion's "ACTIVATE:" effect will never trigger on the turn that it came into play.

EXAMPLE: Flaxan General is drawn. Flaxan General is a Minion, so it is placed into play with life tokens. Its only effect is an "ACTIVATE:" effect which does not trigger the turn it comes into play.

Villain Turn — Leveling Up

Empty Villain Deck — Level Tokens

When the Villain would draw a card and the Villain deck is empty, one of two things can happen:

1. If the Villain has no more level tokens, the players lose.
2. If the Villain has any remaining level tokens, the Villain levels up and you resolve the following steps:
   1. Find the next level token and place it into play to the left of all of the Minions in play. The number at the top of the level token indicates in what order it should be put into play. The Villain starts the game on level 1, which is shown on the bottom of the Villain mat. Therefore, the first level token you place into play will be level 2. When this token is placed into play, set it so that the top overlaps the "LEVEL 1" shown at the bottom of the Villain mat. Subsequent level tokens will replace the previous level token.
   2. Resolve any "INSTANT:" effects on the token.
   3. Shuffle all of the cards in the Villain discard pile (including those that were placed there during setup) facedown to form a new Villain deck.
   4. Draw a card from the new Villain deck and resolve it. This ends the Villain draw phase for this turn.

EXAMPLE: After several rounds of play, The Flaxans' Villain deck is empty. On their next draw phase, they level up. The Flaxans are currently at level 1, so Bob finds the level 2 token and places it in the level section below The Flaxans' mat. This level token has the "INSTANT: Place two Infantry into play." effect. Therefore, Lisa places two Infantry into play. This level token has an "ACTIVATE:" effect of "ACTIVATE: Each minion suffers 1 damage. Place an Infantry into play." This effect will resolve on the subsequent Villain main phases until the Villain levels up again. There is a 0 in the Minion bonus health section of the token. If there was any other number, any Minions that come into play for the rest of this level would come into play with additional health equal to what was listed. Finally, Bob shuffles the Villain discard pile facedown to make a new Villain deck and draws a card from it.

NOTE: The number in the lower right is the Minion bonus health number. Whenever a Minion comes into play from now on, they will gain that much health. Both Minions from the main Villain deck and any additional Villain side deck gain this bonus.

Exhausted

If a player's health is reduced to 0, that player is exhausted. Each Villain has a special effect that resolves when a player becomes exhausted. See the "When a player is exhausted" section of the Villain mat for this effect.

The exhausted player continues to participate in the game as usual with the following exceptions:

• Exhausted players cannot gain health.
• When a card deals damage to the player with the lowest health, it deals damage to the non-exhausted player with the lowest health. Players with 0 health are never considered "the player with the lowest health."
• When an exhausted player suffers damage, instead deal twice that amount of damage to the City. This includes excess damage when a player initially becomes exhausted.

If all players become exhausted, the game ends immediately and the players lose.

EXHAUSTED EXAMPLE: Later in the game during the Villain main phase, Lisa and Bob draw Bolster Ranks from The Flaxan's Villain deck. Its effect is "Any player suffers 3 damage. Each Minion in play gains 1 health." There are no Minions in play currently, so Lisa and Bob resolve the damage.

1. Lisa and Bob each have 2 health. They decide to have Lisa suffer the damage. The first 2 damage causes Lisa to become exhausted. As a result of being exhausted, she resolves the following steps.
2. The Flaxan's Villain mat says "When a player is exhausted, place two infantry into play." Therefore, Lisa and Bob place two Infantry into play.
3. The remaining 1 damage from the initial 3 damage is doubled and dealt to the City. Therefore, the City suffers 2 damage. Lisa adjusts the City's health dial from 16 to 14.

Game End

The game ends when any of the following conditions are met.

The players are victorious when the Villain has 0 health.

The players lose if any of the following conditions are true:

• All the players are exhausted (have 0 health).
• The Villain has 0 health.
• The Villain needs to draw a card when the Villain deck is empty and all of the Villain level tokens have already been played.

In addition, a Villain may have a specific victory condition listed on the Villain mat or on Villain cards that causes the players to lose in other ways.

Expeditions

Expedition Rules

Expeditions are a four-fight mini-campaign, where you will face randomized Villains that get harder with each fight. Additionally, you'll unlock Upgrades after each fight to augment your Heroes and make you stronger each fight. If you lose a fight, feel free to reset, swap around your Heroes or Upgrade cards, and try again! Once you win your fourth Battle, you've defeated the expedition.

In this box, we've made a pre-written expedition for you to enjoy! To play our expedition, skip reading this rules section for now and begin reading the narrative book. You'll receive instructions there about how to set everything up, and when to come back here and read the rules.

After playing our expedition, you can use the rules below to create your own expedition out of any additional Invincible: The Card Game or Astro Knights content you own!

Expedition Setup

1. Divide the Battle cards by the number on the cardback (1, 2, 3, or 4). Shuffle each set facedown to form the four Battle decks.
2. Shuffle your Invention cards facedown to form the Invention deck. Repeat this process for the Combo cards and the Team Attack cards.
3. Shuffle your Hero Randomizer cards facedown to form the Hero deck.
4. Decide what expedition rank you want to play: Standard, Advanced, or Legendary.

The Roster

Your Roster is the Heroes that are currently available to be played in your expedition. Between fights, you can swap the Hero you are currently playing with a character on your Roster whenever you want. At the beginning of your expedition, reveal four cards from the Hero deck. Add these four Heroes to your Roster. You can play as any of these characters for the first battle of the expedition. If you lose the fight, you can choose to change to another Hero on the Roster before trying again. After each battle, reveal another card from the Hero deck, and add that Hero to your available Roster.

The Headquarters

You can't bring every piece of equipment to each battle. The Headquarters is a space to the side of your game where you will put Upgrade cards when you earn them. Before each game, you will be able to choose which Upgrades to bring. The unchosen cards will remain in the Headquarters. At the end of each game, return your current Upgrades to the Headquarters. They can be chosen again for the next battle, or you may select from among the other cards still there.

Game Setup

Draw a card from the Battle 1 deck and set up the corresponding Villain at the difficulty indicated next to the expedition rank you have chosen. (For Battles 2–4, you will draw a card from that battle's corresponding deck.)

• For Battle 1, set up the rest of the game as normal. For Battles 2–4, you will gain access to Upgrades. See the rules for Upgrades below.
• Before choosing Heroes in Battle 2, draw five cards from the Invention deck and add them to your Headquarters.
• Before choosing Heroes in Battle 3, draw five cards from the Combo deck and add them to your Headquarters.
• Before choosing Heroes in Battle 4, draw three cards from the Team Attack deck and add them to your Headquarters.

Each Villain has two Battle cards, in two different Battle tiers. If you draw the same Villain twice in one expedition, you can either redraw or choose to fight the Villain again at its new difficulty.

Apocalypse Difficulty

When you are playing a Legendary rank expedition, you will have to face some Villains on Apocalypse difficulty. Apocalypse difficulty follows the same rules as Nightmare difficulty, but with these adjustments to setup:

• The City suffers 5 damage.
• Before drawing the first card from the turn order deck, resolve a Villain turn.

TOO HARD? If you lose to the same fight twice in a row during your expedition, you can always take the Villain down to the difficulty below the one you are currently fighting them at. (Apocalypse ➜ Nightmare ➜ Expert ➜ Normal.) If you're fighting a Villain on Normal and still struggling, try ignoring the first damage dealt to a player, and starting the City with 3 additional health.

Upgrades

At the beginning of each battle starting with Battle 2, you will gain new Upgrade cards. Specific setup is required for the Upgrades:

Inventions:

For Battles 2–4, each player chooses an Invention from the Headquarters to use for this game. This card is tucked slightly under your player mat. During your main phase, you may gain your Invention by paying its energy cost, as if it was a card at the top of a supply deck. Inventions are not considered a part of the supply, or a supply deck. At the end of the game, return all Inventions to the Headquarters.

INVENTIONS: Invention cards have a special border around their text box, a unique card type, and belong to no supply pile. Inventions cannot be Overcharged. When another card or effect refers to Fuel, Tech, or Weapons, Inventions of the matching type are considered cards of that type. For example, an effect that says return a Weapon from your discard pile to your hand would allow you to pick up an Invention-Weapon.

Combo Cards:

For Battles 3–4, each player chooses a Combo card. Combo cards trigger when an ally does something specific. The Combo gives you the listed benefit. Once you choose your Combo, you then need to choose which ally will trigger the effect. Place a player number token for that player on your Combo card. Each player must choose a different ally. Your Combo will only trigger when your chosen ally performs the described action, and you will be the only player who gains the described benefit. At the end of the game, return all Combos to the Headquarters.

COMBOS: When you choose a Combo, place the player number token of the chosen ally in the blank spot on the bottom of the card. There is an additional set of player number tokens included in this game for this purpose. Each player must choose a different ally. Between games, you may change which ally's token is on your Combo, just like you can change any other Upgrades.

NOTE: Make sure you're paying attention to your allies! When choosing your Combo, ask your teammates what strategies their Heroes use so that you can partner up with an ally who will trigger your Combo often. If your Combo activates when an ally gains a slot, for example, make sure to pick an ally who will be focused on gaining lots of Weapons and slots!

NOTE: Combos usually activate during your chosen ally's turn, but they can be triggered at any time. For example, if you play a card on your turn that powers up an ally and you have the Chain Energy Combo which triggers when that ally powers up, you would immediately get the benefit of your Combo when you finish resolving the card that triggered it entirely.

Team Attacks:

For Battle 4, the players must work together to choose one Team Attack card for their whole team. This card is placed next to the supply. Set one disc of each color (red, blue, and yellow) next to this card. Team Attack cards have requirements that need to be met before the reward is gained. During each player's turn, that player may choose to complete a requirement. When they do, they place the corresponding color disc on that requirement. A player cannot complete more than one requirement per turn. During any player's turn, if the Team Attack card has all three discs on it, that player may activate the reward. If they do, remove all the discs from the Team Attack card. That Team Attack may be used again later once all of the discs have been put on it again.

The discs will remain on the Team Attack until it is activated. Players cannot choose to fulfill a requirement that is covered by a disc.

TEAM ATTACKS: On any player's turn, they can complete the text in a box to fulfill that requirement, marking the completed section with a disc. All three sections must be completed before the reward can be resolved, and the reward must be gained before any section can be completed again.

EXAMPLE: Lisa is taking her turn and decides she wants to contribute towards her team's Team Attack: Powerbomb Explosion. On a previous turn, her teammate Candi discarded a Fuel card in her hand that cost 4 ⚡, and placed the red disc over the red requirement on the Team Attack card.

Lisa has a Tech in her hand, and is at three power. She has the resources to fulfill both the blue and yellow requirements on the Team Attack, but she's only allowed to complete one per turn. She decides to discard her Tech card because she knows Candi will be able to power down. Lisa takes the yellow disc and places it over the yellow requirement, marking that it's done. She then takes the rest of her turn.

On Candi's next turn, she plays her Fuel cards and then spends 4 ⚡ to power up twice. After powering up, she chooses to power back down twice and discard two cards in order to fulfill the blue requirement. She takes the blue disc and places it over the blue requirement to show that it's been completed.

Now the Team Attack is fully charged, so Candi could choose to immediately resolve it and remove all three discs to choose two of the effects listed.

Solo Play

You can play solo as multiple separate Heroes where you control all of those Heroes. If you choose to play like this, just follow the rules as normal for the player count related to the number of Heroes you chose to play. It is recommended that you don't play with more than two Heroes.

When playing with only one Hero, you are your own ally. For example, if a card powers up an ally, you power up yourself. You don't lose the game when you are exhausted. Additionally, there are only three player turn order cards in the turn order deck. Otherwise, play the game as normal.

Variable Difficulty

Invincible: The Card Game has adjustable difficulty. Follow the Villain mat as written to play in Normal mode. There are two additional difficulties: Expert and Nightmare. To play either of these increased difficulty modes, find the Villain token that is marked with that mode and follow the rules on it. These tokens can affect setup, Villain rules, and which level tokens you use during the game. More info on these tokens can be found on page 9.

Game Terms

Activate These effects are resolved during the Villain main phase. See page 24 for more information.

Active Player The active player is the player whose turn it currently is.

Afterburn The Afterburn: effect of a card can only be used when it is in your discard pile. Afterburn: means "Once per turn, during your main phase, if this is in your discard pile, you may resolve this effect." You can use this effect when you gain this card on your turn since it will be in your discard pile during your main phase. These effects are found in the upper left side of the card. They are formatted so that you can splay your discard pile sideways to easily see what Afterburn: effects you have access to.

Ally An ally is any player other than you.

Any Ally/Player When an effect refers to "any player," it affects exactly one player. The same is true for "any ally." It affects exactly one ally.

Assist You may play a card during an ally's turn for its "ASSIST:" effect. When you do, place that card on your player mat. That card will stay there until the start of your next turn when you will return it to your hand. See page 22 for more information.

Attack These effects are resolved during a player's attack phase. See page 19 for more information.

Buy Some cards have "BUY:" effects. When you gain this card, you immediately resolve its "BUY:" effect whether you paid energy (⚡) for it or gained it for free using an ability.

Debris Player cards and abilities will allow players to gain Debris. At the beginning of the game, a deck of Debris cards is placed next to the supply. They are Weapons that cost 2 ⚡ and have "ATTACK: Deal 2 damage. Return this to the Debris deck." Players cannot buy or gain Debris except by using effects that allow them to.

Defeated Some Minions have the keyword "DEFEATED:". When a Minion with a "DEFEATED:" effect is discarded from play, the player who discarded that Minion resolves the "DEFEATED:" effect as completely as possible.

Destroy Cards that are destroyed are permanently removed from the game and are not used or interacted with in any way once they are destroyed. Villain cards that are destroyed are not placed into the Villain's discard pile, and they are not shuffled back into the Villain deck when the Villain levels up.

Enemy The Villain and its minions are considered enemies. When a card affects an enemy, you choose whether it affects the Villain or one of its Minions.

Equip These effects are resolved when a player equips that Weapon.

Exhausted When a player's health is reduced to 0, they become exhausted. See page 27 for more information.

Instant Level tokens and some Minions have "INSTANT:" effects. These effects resolve as soon as the card or token is placed into play.

NONE Villain cards with NONE in the player count section of the card start the game in the Villain discard pile. They are shuffled into the Villain deck when the Villain levels up.

"OR" effects When a card gives two options separated by an "OR," you may choose either option. If a Villain card has an "OR" and you can fully resolve only one of the options, you must choose the effect that you can fully resolve.

Overcharge The Tech supply deck has a special ability called Overcharge. To Overcharge a Tech, spend energy (⚡) equal to its cost, resolve its effect, and place it on the bottom of its supply deck. Overcharge offers you the opportunity for an immediate boost at the cost of not adding the card to your deck to use later.

Powers Down Powering down once means to move your blue disc down one space on the power track. Powering all the way down means to move your disc to the 0 on that track.

Stun Some player cards will allow you to stun an enemy. When you do this, place a stun counter on that enemy. The next time the "ACTIVATE:" effect of that enemy would happen, skip it and remove the stun counter from it. Each enemy can have no more than one stun counter on it. See page 24 for more information.

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Game Design: Kevin Riley, Nick Little, Sydney Engelstein, and Will Sobel Game Inspired by Aeon's End by Kevin Riley, Jenny Iglesias, and Nick Little Art Direction: Bill Bricker and Sydney Engelstein Graphic Design: Bill Bricker Editing: Anilyka Barry and Rachael Mortimer

Playtesters: Ella Burke, Anna Hobson, Lisa Walston, Anilyka Barry, Wesley Dasher, Scott Kapraun, Cayden Kapraun, Jon Dunn, James Peterson, Steven Richardson, Will Pflug, Patrick Jost, Chris Rees, Aaron Molnar, Sean Hagans, Amy Falk, Derrick Vo, Rui Jin, and Abel Kim

© 2024 Indie Game Studios. Oakland, CA 94610. All rights reserved. ©Amazon and Skybound LLC