Saint Seiya: Deckbuilding – Poseidon Expansion Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
  • Player
  • Play Area
• New Content
  • Epic Mini-Card
  • Pillar Mini-Card
  • Balance Weapon Token
  • Transcended Hero
  • Victory Point Token
• Cooperative Mode
  • Setup
    • Players
    • Play Area
  • Game Flow
    • Player Phase
    • Poseidon Phase
  • Pillar and Main Breadwinner
  • Specifics
    • Play Area
    • Poseidon
    • Keywords
    • Other
• End of the Game

Components

• 1 rulebook
• 51 cards (40 Characters, 9 Armors and 2 Relics)
• 26 mini-cards (19 Epics and 7 Pillars)
• 6 Balance Weapon tokens, 4 Hourglass tokens and 18 Victory Point tokens
• 5 Hero markers and their plastic stands
• 1 two-part board for the Cooperative mode
• 1 central Main Breadwinner pillar to assemble
• 1 Submersion marker and its plastic stand

The cards of this expansion are identified by the trident icon at the bottom of the cards.

Setup

Player

The new Hero cards [blue diamond] and the new Hero card [yellow star] are set aside, away from the play area (together with the 5 Hero cards [red triangle] of the base box).

Attach the Hero markers to the supplied stands. The Hero markers are only used in the Cooperative mode.

Play Area

In addition to the classic setup with the base box and Asgard, set up the Poseidon material as follows:

• Shuffle the remaining 36 cards into the Reserve.
• Shuffle the 19 Epic mini-cards and form a face-down draw pile near the play mat.
• Set aside the 7 Pillar mini-cards; they will be used during the game.
• Place the Balance Weapon tokens, the Hourglass tokens and the Victory Point tokens near the play mat.

Leave in the box the Hero markers, the Submersion marker, the board and the Main Breadwinner; they are used for the Cooperative mode.

The previous game boxes are required to play with the Poseidon expansion. However, you may decide to play without the Asgard novelties (player board or cards).

New Content

Epic Mini-Card

Epic mini-cards are compatible with all game modes. Using them is optional.

Epics temporarily change the rules of the game. Several Epic cards may follow one another during a game.

Each Epic shows the following information:

1. Name
2. Duration
3. Effects
4. Symbols

At the start of the game, one Epic is revealed.

An Epic's duration is its value in Hourglass tokens (the hourglass symbol on the card).

In the classic mode, add 1 Hourglass token to the Epic each time a Flame is removed from the Clock. Once the number of Hourglass tokens reaches the Epic's duration, the Epic is replaced by a new Epic, which is revealed immediately.

In the 1 Player mode, add 1 Hourglass token to the Epic each time a Divine Warrior leaves the play area (after its Exit effect).

Epics affect the rules of the game as their effects indicate. An Epic may have 1 or 2 effects. These effects are of different types:

• Field effect: applies while the Epic is revealed. It ends when the Epic is replaced.
• Field effect that evolves: its strength depends on the number of Hourglass tokens on the Epic.
• End-of-Epic effect: triggers immediately when the Epic ends (when it reaches its duration in Hourglass tokens).
• End-of-game effect: triggers when the game ends.

Some Epics carry symbols that determine whether they are included in or removed from the game during setup:

• [trident symbol]: requires the Poseidon expansion.
• [Asgard symbol]: requires the Asgard expansion.
• [combined symbol]: requires the Asgard or Poseidon expansion.
• [star symbol]: also playable in the 1 Player mode.
• [cooperative symbol]: also playable in the Cooperative mode.

Pillar Mini-Card

Destroying Pillars earns additional Victory Points.

Each Pillar shows the following information:

1. Name
2. Cost in Strength (side A)
3. Effect (side A)
4. Victory Points (side B)
5. Additional VP (side B)

At the start of the game, the Pillar mini-cards are set aside from the game.

When a Marina General is acquired, the Pillar it protects is revealed. In that case, the Pillar matching the initials of the Marina General is placed face A near the play area, unless this Pillar has already been destroyed.

When a Pillar is revealed, players may fight it during their turn and destroy it with a cost of 10 Strength.

When a player destroys a Pillar, they take the mini-card and turn it face B near their play area. Each Pillar gives Victory Points to the player who destroyed it (4 and 5 above).

Example:

1. Isaak of the Kraken is defeated for 7 Strength.
2. The Pillar of the Arctic Ocean is revealed.
3. By destroying the Pillar with 10 Strength, the player gains at the end of the game: 2 VP, +1 VP per player if they are the player with the most marked cards.

Balance Weapon Token

When a player acquires a Marina General, they immediately gain a Balance Weapon token, if one remains available.

Balance Weapon tokens are used by Heroes to destroy Pillars more easily. Discarding a Balance Weapon token adds +4 Strength to one of your Heroes played face up against a Pillar (only one Balance Weapon token per Hero card).

Transcended Hero

The new Hero cards [yellow star] (set aside during setup) represent transcended Heroes.

A transcended Hero is mainly obtained by marking a new Hero [blue diamond].

Victory Point Token

Victory Point tokens are used by some card effects and in the Cooperative mode.

A player immediately takes the Victory Point tokens on a card when that card joins their discard pile or their hand.

All Victory Point tokens acquired by a player are kept (without changing their side). They give or cost Victory Points at the end of the game. The tokens show +1 on one side and -1 on the other.

Cooperative Mode

This mode asks you to cooperate to face Poseidon. Destroy all the Pillars before Athena and the world are submerged.

We recommend playing several games in the classic mode before starting your first game in cooperation.

It is advised to play with the player boards, especially if you play with the Asgard cards and the Odin statue.

Setup

Players

The initial setup for players is identical to the classic mode. Also take your Hero marker, previously attached to its stand.

Play Area

1. Assemble the board and the Main Breadwinner in the centre of the play area (you will not use the play mat for this mode).
2. Set the water level on the wheel according to the table below.

Players	2 Players	3 Players	4 Players	5 Players
Levels	Level 3	Level 2	Level 1	Level 0

3. Place the 7 Pillar cards (side A) face up, one beside each of the 7 sides of the board.
4. Take 7 different Marina Generals from the Reserve and place one, face down, on top of each Pillar.
5. Remove Pope, Hilda, Poseidon and all the Relics from the Reserve. Shuffle the Reserve and form 7 piles of 11 cards* face down, and place one pile on top of each Marina General.
6. Leave the Reserve, face down, near the play area.
7. Place the Submersion marker, previously attached to its stand, on the starting gap, indicated by the Hourglass symbol on the board. The space between each pile is called the gap.
8. Finally, each player places their Hero marker facing the pile of their choice (a different pile for each player), then reveals the first card of each pile that a Hero marker faces.

Example for a 2-player game:

• 6: Reserve
• 7: Submersion
• 8: Hero marker
• 2: water level
• 5: pile
• 4: Marina General
• 3: Pillar
• 1: starting gap

* For harder games, reduce the number of cards in each pile.

Game Flow

A game is a succession of phases. You alternate between a Player phase and a Poseidon phase.

Player Phase

The players take turns, in the order of their choice. On their turn, a player may perform each of these actions as many times as they wish:

• Fight the card on the pile that their Hero marker faces.
• Discard a card from hand to move their Hero marker to an adjacent pile (even if that pile is empty). The top card of a pile that a Hero marker faces is revealed.
• Give as many cards from hand as they wish to a player whose Hero marker faces the same pile as theirs.
• Give one card from hand to a player to whom they have not already given a card this turn, and whose Hero marker faces an adjacent pile.

* Important: cards of rank [yellow star] and [blue diamond], Heroes and Armors [red triangle], cannot be given. The player who receives cards adds them to their hand; they now become part of their deck. A player cannot receive cards if they already have 10 or more in hand.

If the Hero marker is moved, a card previously played may still be used until it is discarded at the end of the turn.

When the active player ends their turn, they refill their hand as in steps 1 and 2 of the Upkeep Phase of the classic mode.

Example: during their turn, the player playing Seiya with 7 cards in hand decides to take the following actions:

1. Acquire the Marina Soldier, thereby revealing the next card of the pile.
2. Give 1 card to Shun.
3. Discard 1 card from hand to move to face Krishna of Chrysaor.
4. Give 2 cards to Hyoga.
5. Give their last card to Shiryu.

Poseidon Phase

Once all the players have taken their turn, the Player phase ends and the Poseidon phase begins. Poseidon moves the Submersion marker to collect cards and raise the water level in the Main Breadwinner.

At the start of this phase, move the Submersion marker clockwise, by as many gaps as there are players. At each pile passed, and before moving on to the next, Poseidon applies the appropriate rule:

a. If the card on the pile is face down, place it face up in the Main Breadwinner.

b. If the card on the pile is face up, Poseidon applies, if possible and from top to bottom, its effects Discard, Wound, Freeze, Destroy, Marked, Defeated and Exit. The card joins the Main Breadwinner, face up, instead of being discarded, marked or destroyed.

c. If the card is the last one in its pile (necessarily the Marina General protecting the Pillar), it is immediately turned face up. If it was already face up, add a +1VP token to it. Each token placed this way increases its cost by +1 Strength and +1 Cosmos. The +1VP tokens will be taken by the player who defeats this Marina General.

d. If the pile is empty or occupied by a Pillar, nothing happens. However, if Poseidon neither acquires a card nor adds a +1VP token to a Marina General during this phase, the Submersion marker keeps advancing until Poseidon does one or the other, or until the Submersion marker has completed a full turn of the board.

At the end of this phase, the top cards of the piles faced by Hero markers are revealed, clockwise, starting from the Submersion marker.

Example for a 4-player game: the Submersion marker advances 4 gaps.

1. The 1st card is turned face up and placed in the Main Breadwinner.
2. Poseidon places Kanon in the Main Breadwinner and applies its Wound effect, then its Exit effect: a -1VP token is therefore placed on the Pillar in play.
3. Poseidon places a +1VP token on the Marina General.
4. Poseidon places Moses in the Main Breadwinner and applies its Defeated effect: Thetis and the Marina Soldier are therefore discarded to the Abysses, and a card from the Reserve is placed on the pile where Seiya is (see page 10).

Pillar and Main Breadwinner

When the last Marina General of a pile is defeated (A), it joins the Abysses and the Pillar it protected is revealed.

The Pillar must then be destroyed (B), as in the classic mode.

In addition to earning VP bonuses, destroying a Pillar lowers the water level of the Main Breadwinner by 1.

When the Submersion marker passes or stops on the starting gap (C), the water level increases by 1 and the Epic receives an Hourglass token.

Diagram: destroying a Pillar lowers the water level by 1 (-1); the Submersion marker passing the starting gap raises it by 1 (+1) and adds an Hourglass token to the Epic.

Specifics

Play Area

• The field consists of all the face-up cards on top of the 7 piles. If the top card of a pile is face down, the field space is considered empty.
• Completing the field means drawing cards from the Reserve and placing them face up on each empty field space (whose card is face down) that a Hero marker faces.
• The Reserve also serves as Poseidon's draw pile.
• The cards of the Main Breadwinner are stacked in the order in which they are placed. These cards give their Victory Points to Poseidon at the end of the game.
• The field discard, Poseidon's discard pile and Poseidon's destroyed cards are combined into a single discard pile called the Abysses.
• When a field card joins the Abysses, it applies its Exit effect.
• The first field space changes during the game: it is the pile to the left of the Submersion marker (counterclockwise).
• The last field space changes during the game: it is the pile to the right of the Submersion marker (counterclockwise).

Poseidon

• Poseidon is not a player.
• Poseidon's hand is formed by the top 5 cards of the Main Breadwinner's pile.
• Poseidon never uses Strength or Cosmos to acquire cards. Effects that depend on these values, such as that of the Armor of the Lion, have no effect when Poseidon triggers them.
• When a card's effect allows Poseidon to add a card to its hand, it places the card face up in the Main Breadwinner without activating its effects.
• When Poseidon must make a choice, it gives priority to VP (it discards, marks or destroys its cards with the fewest VP, and targets the players' cards with the most VP). For any other decision, the players choose in Poseidon's interest.
• Poseidon may have marked cards; these are set aside with the appropriate marker, by triggering the Marked effect if possible. They are considered to belong to Poseidon.
• If a marked card of Poseidon is healed, it joins the Main Breadwinner face up, instead of joining the Abysses.
• Poseidon is never affected by Exit effects.

Keywords

• When an effect targets the active player (Epic, Arrival...) during the Poseidon phase, the last player who played is targeted.
• When an effect targets all players in turn order, they apply it one by one, in the order of their choice.
• When an effect targets an opponent:
  • During the Poseidon phase, the opponents are the players.
  • During the Player phase, the only opponent is Poseidon.

Other

• Only Marina Generals that are not the last of their pile give Balance Weapon tokens, as in the classic mode.
• An effect can never move or remove the last Marina General of a pile; it must be defeated.

End of the Game

The game ends if either of the following two conditions is met:

• All 7 Pillars are destroyed. The players have won.
• The water level reaches the top of the Main Breadwinner (the icon printed at its top). The central pillar is submerged, but one last hope remains:
  • Poseidon counts the VP of all the cards in the Main Breadwinner, its marked cards and those still face up on each Pillar. In addition, Poseidon gains 5 VP for each Pillar that has not been destroyed.
  • Each player counts their VP as in the classic mode, then the players add their VP together.
  • If the players' total VP is greater than Poseidon's VP, the players have won. Otherwise, Poseidon is the winner.

Note: don't forget to count the Victory Point tokens gained during the game.