Sakura Arms: Yatsuha Box Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Components
• Components Breakdown
• The Golden Rule
• Setup
• Gameplay
• Basic Actions
• Playing Cards
• Resolving Effects
• Ultimate Cards
• Keywords
• FAQ
• Additional Rules
• Game Modes
• Epic Battle

Overview

Sakura Arms is a 2-player dueling card game. Players will make small 10 card decks comprised of cards from two different Goddesses, then battle it out to see who can get the foe's Life to 0!

Components

40 Sakura Tokens

A resource that tracks various game Areas. The game requires 36, and the other 4 are spares.

2 Vigor Cards

These track each player's Vigor, Stun status, and provide an Action reference during your turn.

66 Goddess Cards

Each has 7 Normal cards and 4 Ultimate cards.

6 Goddess Boards

Goddesses and their unique gameplay mechanics, setup, and reference information.

2 Game Board Halves

These connect to form the full game board.

Additional Components

Some Goddesses have extra components. See a Goddess' Board and reference for more info on any additional components they may have.

Components Breakdown

Goddess Cards

Every Goddess card is either a Normal Card or an Ultimate Card. Between them, the two card types share the following parts:

1. Range: The Distance needed to play an Attack.
2. Name: The name of the card.
3. Card Type: Attack, Utility, or Enchantment. See Playing Cards for more info.
4. Card Subtype: Reaction or Full Power. See Playing Cards for more info. Not all cards have a subtype.
5. Charge (not shown): Sakura from Shadow or Aura put on a played Enchantment.
6. Aura Damage: The amount of Aura damage an Attack deals.
7. Life Damage: The amount of Life damage an Attack deals.
8. Effect: The effect(s) of the card.
9. Reference Number: The card's reference number and name of the Goddess it belongs to. This doesn't affect gameplay.
10. Bonus Icon (not shown): Indicates additional cards a Goddess may have and which card generates it. These start in your Bonus Area and must be gained via other effects during play.
11. Flare Cost: The cost in Flare required to play an Ultimate.

Icon Effects

Some effects are shown as just icons. The number of Sakura above the arrow shows how many Sakura to move. The arrow shows which Area to move them from and to. If it points both ways, you choose which Area to move from and to. Black icons refer to shared Areas, blue to your Areas, and red to your foe's Areas. For example, an icon might move 5 Sakura from Shadow to your Aura.

Goddess Board

1. Name: The Goddess' name.
2. Weapon: The Goddess' weapon(s).
3. Overview: A short summary of the Goddess' lore and gameplay.
4. Unique Abilities: Any setup and various gameplay mechanics the Goddess introduces into the game.
5. Card Reference (back): A quick reference for all of the Goddess' cards. The Build column on the left allows for quick deckbuilding. See Deck Construction for more info.

Game Board

1. Game Board Connectors: Connects one half of the game board to the other.
2. Goddess Board Connector: Goddesses with additional board components connect them here.
3. Turn Reference: The turn structure for Start, Main, and End Phases.
4. Play Area: Sections for Distance, Shadow, Aura, Life, and Flare Areas. Areas also include arrows to indicate Basic Actions (black), damage (red), and spending (red-black). Areas indicate the starting and maximum amount of Sakura for that Area. Areas without Sakura shown can hold any number of Sakura.

The Golden Rule

If any effect contradicts the text of this rulebook, the card text takes precedence.

Setup

1. Game Board Setup

Connect the two game board halves to create the full board. Then, place 10 Sakura tokens into Distance, 3 into each player's Aura, and 10 into each player's Life. These Areas indicate where to put each Sakura.

2. Choose Goddesses

Each player picks two Goddesses to create a deck from, taking all of their cards and their Goddess board. Each Goddess should have 7 Normal cards and 4 Ultimate cards, giving you a total of 14 Normals and 8 Ultimates.

Perform any "Setup" instructions on your Goddess boards now. This usually involves gaining extra components and setting them up. If you chose a Goddess with Bonus cards, these should be set aside in your Bonus Area (anywhere outside of play). They cannot be put in your deck.

After this, give your Goddess boards to the foe, so they are aware of your capabilities while they make their deck.

3. Deck Construction

Create a deck of 7 Normal Cards and 3 Ultimate Cards in any combination of cards from your chosen Goddesses. Create your deck in secret, so that your foe doesn't know which of the cards from your two Goddesses you're using.

If this is your first game or you're in a hurry, you can use the Build section of your Goddess boards to quickly build a deck. Just choose the four cards indicated by the blue (left) flowers of one Goddess and the six cards indicated by the red (right) flowers of the other Goddess.

Once you've created your deck, set the Normal cards face-down behind the game board and put your Ultimate cards face-down near your Flare Area (indicating they're Ready). You may look at your Ultimates at any time. Then give your foe's Goddess boards back to them.

4. Additional Setup

Determine which player goes first however you like. Each player shuffles their deck of Normal cards and draws 3.

If a player wants to mulligan their hand, they choose any number of cards in their hand, put them on the bottom of their deck in any order, then draw that many. First player must choose whether or not to mulligan before the second.

Each player should take a Vigor card. The first player starts at 0 Vigor, while the second player starts at 1.

Game Board Areas

Note Distance and Shadow are shared Areas between the two players, while Life, Aura, and Flare are Areas that each player has. Other Areas created by a Goddess, like the Bonus Area or boards, are unique to that player too.

Gameplay

Overview

Each player takes turns back and forth, performing their Start, Main, and End Phases. The first player to reach 0 Life loses!

Start Phase

During your Start Phase, perform the following steps in order. Skip the Start Phase on both player's first turns.

1. Gain 1 Vigor: Gain Vigor by turning the Vigor card 90° left. It cannot exceed 2.
2. Check Enchantments: Move 1 Sakura on each Enchantment in play to Shadow. This applies to ALL Enchantments, even your foe's. Enchantments that no longer have Sakura on them are destroyed, and go in your discard pile. If the Enchantment has a Disenchant effect, it activates at this time. If there are multiple Disenchant effects happening at once, the player whose turn it is decides the order in which they happen.
3. Reshuffle Deck (Optional): Take your discard pile (including any cards discarded face-down) and any cards remaining in your deck and shuffle them to make a new deck. Then, take 1 Life damage by moving a Sakura from Life to Flare.
4. Draw 2 Cards: Draw 2 cards. If you are not able to draw a card, take 1 Damage to either Aura or Life for each card you can't draw. For Aura damage, move a Sakura from your Aura to Shadow. If you can't take Aura damage, you must take Life damage.

Main Phase

During your Main Phase, do any number of Standard Actions in any order or 1 Full Power Action.

Standard Actions

1. Take a Basic Action (see Basic Actions).
2. Play a Readied Ultimate or a card in your hand without Full Power (see Playing Cards).

Full Power Action

1. Play a Readied Ultimate or a card in your hand with Full Power (see Playing Cards).

End Phase

Some of your effects may trigger during the End Phase, these are performed now. These will usually be denoted by the trigger "End:"

Then, if you have 3 or more cards in your hand, discard cards face-down to your discard pile until you have 2 cards in your hand (during your turn there is no hand limit).

After this, begin the next player's Start Phase.

Out of Cards in Deck

If there are no cards left in your deck when you need to draw, you instead take 1 Damage to either Aura or Life. If there are no Sakura left in your Aura, you must take the Damage to your Life. Follow the jagged arrows on the board to see where each Sakura moves from each damage type.

You take damage for each card you can't draw, regardless of what causes you to need to draw, whether from a rule or an effect.

Basic Actions

Basic Actions allow you to manipulate the Sakura on the board to move around, defend yourself, and save up for powerful Ultimates.

To use a Basic Action, you must pay one of the following costs. If you can't, you cannot use a Basic Action. You also cannot use a Basic Action if there is no space to move a Sakura to or from. For example, if you have 5 Sakura in your Aura, you cannot use the Advance Basic Action, because your Aura is full.

Basic Action Costs (Choose one of the two)

1. Spend 1 Vigor.
2. Discard 1 card from your hand face-down to your discard pile.

There are 5 different Basic Actions:

Advance*

Move 1 Sakura from Distance to your Aura. Advancing allows you to get closer to the foe by making the number of Sakura in Distance smaller.

*Note that when you are at Master Distance or less, you cannot use this Action.

Retreat

Move 1 Sakura from your Aura to Distance. Retreating allows you to get further from the foe by making the number of Sakura in Distance larger.

Recover

Move 1 Sakura from Shadow to your Aura. Recovering allows you to defend yourself by putting Sakura in your Aura.

Focus

Move 1 Sakura from your Aura to your Flare. Focusing allows you to gain more Flare, which is used to pay for Ultimates.

Breakaway*

Move 1 Sakura from Shadow to Distance. Breakaway is another option to get further from the foe, making the number of Sakura in Distance larger.

*Note that Breakaway is special in that it can only be used when you are at Master Distance or less (see below).

Master Distance

The Master Distance rule prevents players from Advancing if they are at Master Distance or less. By default, Master Distance is 2, but some card effects can change this number.

Card effects that move Sakura can still affect Distance, so you can use these to get to Distance 1 or 0 if needed.

With default Master Distance, being at Distance 2, 1, or 0 means you cannot use Advance, but you can now use Breakaway.

Multiple Triggers

Some cards have multiple triggers in a row. An effect might trigger only when you have a Goddess-specific status (such as Yurina's unique Resolve) and be an Ongoing effect.

Playing Cards

Utility Cards

When you play a Utility, resolve its effect in order from top to bottom, then put the Utility in your discard pile face-up.

Enchantment Cards

When you play an Enchantment, move Sakura equal to the card's Charge value (or as many as possible) from Shadow and/or your Aura to the Enchantment. Resolve any Initialize effects on the Enchantment now.

While the Enchantment has Sakura on it, any Ongoing effects it has stay active.

When an Enchantment has no Sakura on it, discard it, resolving any Disenchant effects now.

Note if anything would remove Sakura from an Enchantment (rules or effects), the Sakura are moved to Shadow.

Attack Cards

To play an Attack Card, you must be at the right Distance. If the current Distance isn't within the Range of the card, you cannot play the Attack. If the Attack was generated from an effect, it fails if it's not in Range.

When you play an Attack card (or generate an Attack from an effect), do the following to resolve it:

1. If the foe has a Reaction in their hand or as a Readied Ultimate, they can play one now. This card resolves before your card does. A Reaction cannot be played in response to another Reaction.

2. Check that your Attack is still in Range. If not, your Attack is discarded face-up with no effect.

3. If you are still in Range, the foe chooses whether to take Aura or Life damage from the Attack:

   • If Aura, they move Sakura from their Aura to Shadow equal to the Attack's Aura damage.
   • If Life, they move Sakura from their Life to their Flare equal to the Attack's Life damage.

   If an Attack has "-" as its damage, then the foe must take the other type of damage.

   If the Attack deals more Aura damage than the foe has Aura, then they must take that Attack's Life damage instead. If the Attack's Life damage is "-", then you must take as much Aura damage as possible instead.

   If the Attack without Overkill would ever have more than 5 Aura damage, that damage is set to 5 instead.

4. Resolve any After effects the Attack has.

5. Put the Attack in your discard pile face-up. If the Attack was an Ultimate, it stays where it is and is not discarded. If the Attack was generated from an effect, the Attack is now over.

Full Power Cards

Cards with the Full Power subtype take your entire turn to use, whether they are a Normal or Ultimate card. After you play a card with Full Power, go immediately to your End Phase. If you've played other cards or used Actions, you cannot play a Full Power card that turn.

Attack Example

Distance is at 3. Player One plays Slash, a Range 3-4, 3a/1l damage Attack. Player Two Reacts with Induce, which moves 1 Sakura from Distance to Player One's Aura. With the Distance now at 2, Slash is out of range and is discarded.

Player One then plays Hilt Strike, a Range 1-2 Attack with 2a/1l damage. Player Two chooses to take the Aura Damage, moving 2 Sakura from their Aura to Shadow.

Resolving Effects

Effects resolve as much as possible. If you can't do one part of an effect, but can do the rest, you still do the rest. For example, if a card said "The foe is Stunned. Then take a Basic Action at no cost." and you couldn't stun the foe, you still take the Basic Action. If another effect said "Move 5 Sakura from Shadow to your Aura." and you had 3 Aura, you would move 2 to your Aura.

Discard Piles

Some rules and effects require you to discard cards face-down. For example, cards used to pay the cost of a Basic Action get discarded face-down. This is similar to normal discarding, but your foe cannot look at such cards, though you can check yours.

Note that normally resolving a card effect will cause the card to be discarded face-up, not face-down.

If an effect requires you to discard cards and does not specify how, these are discarded face-up.

This means that your discard pile can be comprised of face-up and face-down cards. When reshuffling your deck, make sure that all cards face the same direction and your new deck is placed face-down.

You can always look at face-up cards in your foe's discard pile and know the number of cards in their discard pile.

"-" Damage

Attacks with a damage of "-" are considered to not have that type of damage and cannot gain it through bonuses. This is different from a damage of 0, which can still be modified by effects.

Ultimate Cards

You must have enough Sakura in Flare to play an Ultimate card. When you play an Ultimate card, move Sakura from your Flare to Shadow equal to the card's Flare cost. Then resolve the card as normal based on its type (Utility, Enchantment, Attack).

Unlike Normal cards, when an Ultimate card resolves, it is not discarded. Instead, it is turned face-up to indicate it is Used. A Used Ultimate cannot be used again during the game.

Some Ultimates have effects that are only active when the card is Used. See the Resurgence and Used keywords for more information on these effects.

Keywords

+Xa/+Yl

An adjustment to damage. X modifies Aura damage, while Y modifies Life damage. An effect that said "This Attack gets +1a/+2l." would give +1 to Aura damage and +2 to Life damage.

After

An effect that resolves after the rest of the Attack.

Concentration

A keyword on some Enchantments. If you take Life damage for any other reason than reshuffling your deck, the Enchantment is discarded face-down and any Disenchant effects on it don't trigger. Sakura on it still move to Shadow.

Disenchant

An effect that resolves when an in-play Enchantment is discarded through any means, besides Concentration.

End

An effect that resolves at the start of the End Phase.

Full Force

You may play this card instead of a Full Power card when you take a Full Power Action during your Main Phase. If you do, it gains its Full Force effects. Cards with Full Force are not considered to be cards with Full Power. You can still play a card with Full Force normally, but you won't gain its Full Force effects.

Limited

When a player finishes resolving the effect of the card, they cannot play any cards or use Basic Actions for the rest of that turn. If you play a Reaction with Limited on a foe's turn, you cannot play any other cards for the rest of the turn. The foe's turn continues as normal.

Inevitable

Attacks with this keyword cannot have Reactions played in response to them. If Inevitable appears with brackets "Inevitable [Normal Cards]", the effect only applies to cards of the specified type.

Initialize

An effect that resolves as an Enchantment is played.

Negate

The damage and effects of a negated Attack are ignored. Some negate effects will only negate specific things, like damage.

Ongoing

A keyword on some Enchantments. An effect that is constantly active as long as the card is in play.

Overkill

Attacks with this can have more than 5 Aura damage.

Range Expansion

A modification to an Attack to increase its Range. "Max" increases an Attack's maximum Range by the number indicated. "Min" increases an Attack's minimum Range by the number indicated.

Yurina's Slash has Range 3-4. A modification of [Max 1] would make its Range 3-5. [Min 1] would make its Range 2-4.

Brandish has Range of 3. [Max 1] would make its Range 3-4. [Min 1] would make its Range 2-3.

Thallya's Alpha Edge has a Range of 1, 3, 5, 7. [Max 1] would make its Range 1, 3, 5, 7-8. [Min 1] would make its Range 0-1, 3, 5, 7.

Range Reduction

A modification to an Attack to decrease its Range. "Min" decreases an Attack's minimum Range by the number indicated. "Max" decreases an Attack's maximum Range by the number indicated.

Yurina's Slash has Range 3-4. A modification of (Max 1) would make its Range 3. (Min 1) would make its Range 4.

Brandish has a Range of 3. [Max 1] or [Min 1] would remove its range entirely, making it miss no matter what.

Thallya's Alpha Edge has a Range of 1, 3, 5, 7. [Max 1] would make its Range 1, 3, 5. [Min 1] would make its Range 3, 5, 7.

Ready

A face-down Ultimate. An effect that readies an Ultimate turns it face-down.

Resurgence & Immediate Resurgence

An effect that allows a Used Ultimate to be Readied and be played again later if a certain condition is met. Resurgence effects check for their condition during your End Phase. Immediate Resurgence effects check for their condition at all times.

Seal

This effect removes a card from the game. An Ultimate that is sealed cannot be used for the rest of the current duel.

Stun

Stun is a status that can affect a player. When you are Stunned, flip your Vigor card over to its Stunned side. When you would gain any amount of Vigor, instead of gaining Vigor, you remove the Stun status by flipping your Vigor card over back to the Vigor you are currently at. A player cannot gain the Stun status if they are already Stunned. A player may still spend Vigor when they are Stunned.

Suspend

This moves a card to the Area to where the card effect specifies.

Used

Ultimate cards that have been played are face-up and considered Used. Some Ultimate cards have passive effects that are only active when Used. These are indicated by the Used trigger.

FAQ

As Sakura Arms is a game with a long history, the FAQs needed far exceed what can fit into the rulebook! Check out FAQs on the publisher's website.

Additional Rules

1. You cannot use a Basic Action that requires moving Sakura if the Area they would go to is already at its maximum capacity. For example, if your Aura is already at 5, you cannot Advance.
2. If the Area where the Sakura are going is not yet full and a card effect, damage, etc. requires you to move tokens there, you must move as many as you can.
3. When a card has multiple effects, resolve them in order from top to bottom.
4. If one card's effect says something is possible and another says the same thing is not possible, the effect making it not possible takes precedence.
5. If a foe uses your card, it is still discarded to your discard pile when used.

Game Modes

Sakura Arms can be played in a variety of different ways! Here's a few additional ways to play!

Drafting

The following draft modes allow players more dynamic ways to build their decks by changing how they choose Goddesses and construct decks. Players form draft pools, then make decks from these pools in ways described by each mode. A player's draft deck does not have to have exactly 7 Normal cards and 3 Ultimate cards, so long as it has exactly 10 cards total.

These modes replace steps 2 and 3 of Setup. After cards are chosen in any draft mode, players make a deck of their Normal cards and set their Ultimate cards aside as usual. Then they setup their Goddesses and begin play.

Note: If your draft pools include cards from a Goddess that has Bonus cards or other additional components, each player will need a copy of those components.

Open Two Pick Draft

This mode is for 2 players.

1. Create a draft pool of 32+ Normal cards and 16+ Ultimate cards of your choice, then shuffle them separately.
2. Each player takes turns revealing the top 2 cards of one of the decks, then choosing one card secretly. The card not chosen is removed.
3. Once each player has 12 cards, they remove 2, and are left with 10 cards.

Rotation Draft

This mode is for 2, 4, 6, or 8 players to make decks. Games of 2 players ensue after.

1. Randomly deal a pool of 8 Normal cards and 4 Ultimate cards to each player.
2. Each player simultaneously picks one card secretly, then passes their hand to the left.
3. Repeat step 2 until all players have 12 cards. Then each player removes 2 cards, and are left with 10 cards.

Rochester Draft

This mode is for 2 or 4 players to make decks. Games of 2 players ensue after.

1. Create a draft pool of 8 times the number of players for Normal cards and 4 times the number of players for Ultimate cards. Then, shuffle them separately.
2. Draw 8 Normal cards and 4 Ultimate cards and put them face up in the middle of the table.
3. Each player takes turns taking one card from the middle of the table in a clockwise fashion.
4. Once all 12 cards have been taken, repeat steps 2 and 3 once for two players, and three more times for four players. Each time, the first player to take a card shifts to the left of the last player to first pick a card.
5. Once each player has 12 cards, they remove 2, and are left with 10 cards.

Epic Battle

In Epic Battle, the game's rules are modified in different ways for a more challenging deckbuilding and gameplay experience. Before Setup, choose one of the following rules or pick one at random. Players abide by them in Setup and gameplay:

Conquer and Be Prosperous

Starting Life is 12. Aura starts at 7. Full Power cards lose the Full Power subtype.

Mad Pairing

Starting Life is 12. Choose a Normal card from each Goddess you didn't put in your deck and set them aside face-down. The first time you play a Normal card from each of your Goddesses, reveal their corresponding set aside card. After this, anytime you play a Normal card from that Goddess, it is treated as a copy of the set card.

A Day of Powerful Wind

Arrow effects move twice as many Sakura.

Traditional Ninja Techniques

All non-Full Power Normal cards gain Trap (Before you reshuffle your deck, you may play 1 face-down card with Trap in your discard pile.).

An Elegant Debate Under the Sun

During the foe's Start Phase, do not remove Sakura from your Enchantments.