Goal

Best-of-7 Battles. Higher Power wins each Battle. First player to win 4 Battles wins the game. A game can end as early as Battle 4 (4–0 sweep).

Setup

• Each player shuffles their 60-card Hero Deck and places it face-down.
• Each player places 7 Heroes face-down in a row — these are the 7 Battle Slots.
• Each player rolls one die. High roll wins initial Honors — the right to act first each battle. Re-roll on a tie.

Each Battle

• Both players simultaneously flip their Hero face-up.
• The player with the higher Power wins the battle and takes the point.
• Tied battle: If both Heroes have equal Power, the battle is a draw — no trophy is awarded. Honors stays with the same player.
• Tied game → Sudden Death: If both players win the same number of battles after all 7, each reveals the top card of their Hero Deck. Higher Power wins. Repeat until broken.
• Honors passes to the winner of each battle. On a draw, Honors stays the same.

Additional Setup

• After placing your 7 face-down Heroes, draw 4 additional Heroes from your Hero Deck and place them in your Bench (kept hidden from opponent).
• Draw all 10 Hot Dogs into your Hot Dog pile. The count is always public information.

Substitution Phase

• Before Heroes are revealed — cards are still face-down. This is a blind decision.
• Cost: 2 Hot Dogs — send the face-down Hero to the Discard Pile. Place a Hero from your Bench face-down into the Battle Zone. Draw a new Hero from your Hero Deck to refill your Bench.
• The Honors player decides first. The opponent then decides. Each player may substitute at most once per battle.

Honors & Information

Honors moves to the battle winner. Having Honors means you substitute first — your opponent sees whether you substituted before making their own decision. Sometimes it is strategically better to pass, forcing your opponent to commit first.

Resource Note

You only have 10 Hot Dogs for the entire game. At 2 per substitution, that's a maximum of 5. Save them for battles where the power gap is meaningful.

Additional Setup

• Shuffle your Playbook. Draw 4 Plays as your starting hand.
• Draw 1 Play at the end of each battle (during cleanup).

Play Window

• After Heroes are revealed, the player with Honors may run one or more Plays, then passes.
• The other player may then run one or more Plays, then passes.
• Pay the Hot Dog cost shown on the card and resolve its effect.
• Each player gets only one opportunity per battle to run Plays. Once you pass, you cannot play more cards that battle.

Super Weapon Tiebreaker

In Playmaker mode only — if a battle ends in a tie and one Hero has the Super weapon type, that Hero wins automatically. No Sudden Death needed.

Tournament Formats

• Standard Playmaker — the competitive and tournament-standard format.
• SPEC Format — No single Hero may have Power above 160. Sideboard of up to 45 standard Plays + unlimited Bonus Plays. Players may swap Plays between matches, but NOT between games within a match.