Saturday Wars

Saturday Wars is a collectible card game (CCG) set in the Saturday AM manga multiverse. You play as a Gwalliin, guiding your heroes through a series of head-to-head confrontations called Chapters. Its signature twist is Purge-to-Play™: instead of a separate resource, you pay for cards by purging cards from the top of your own deck — so every card is a resource, and letting your deck run dry loses you the game. Be the first to claim three Chapters to win.

Setup

Each player brings two decks:

• a Story Deck of exactly 5 unique Chapter cards you’ll compete to claim, and
• a Shonen Deck of exactly 45 cards — Characters, Upgrades, Plot Twists and Story Arcs — with at most 3 copies of any single card.

Then:

1. Search your deck for Character cards totalling 4 purge cost and place them in your Protagonist row — without paying their cost. No other Characters may enter your Protagonist row during the game unless a card says so.
2. Shuffle your Shonen Deck and draw 5.
3. Optional mulligan: put any number of cards on the bottom of your deck, draw back up to 5, then purge the top 2 cards (this doesn’t trigger their purge abilities).
4. Bid for first player: each player secretly hides any number of progress markers in a fist and reveals. The higher bidder purges that many cards and becomes the starting player (ties are re-bid).
5. The starting player places one Chapter from their Story Deck into the story row and takes the first action.

The Cards

• Characters are your cast. Protagonists start in play and stay all game — lose all of them and you lose. Allies are Characters played during the game and are purged at the end of each Chapter.
• Upgrades attach to a Character to boost or change it; they leave play if that Character does.
• Plot Twists are one-off events with Animate (resolve then purge), Purge (triggered when purged) or Enduring (stay for the Chapter) abilities. Quick ones can be played any time.
• Story Arcs stay in play across several Chapters, giving ongoing effects until they hit their Arc Limit and are purged.
• Chapters are the prizes. Each has a Prologue, Epilogue or Narrative ability.

Playing the Game

A game is a series of Chapters, each with three phases: Prologue → Actions → Epilogue.

1. Prologue

Starting with the player who played the current Chapter, each player readies any exhausted cards, draws or purges until they hold 5 cards, then applies any Prologue abilities.

Using many abilities — or losing a challenge — exhausts a Character (turn it sideways). Exhausting an already-exhausted Character purges it instead.

2. Actions (4 each)

Players alternate turns, taking 4 actions apiece. Each action is one of:

• Draw a card.
• Play a card — pay its purge cost by purging cards from the top of your Shonen Deck, then place it (Allies, Story Arcs and Enduring Plot Twists to the Active Row; Upgrades onto a Character; other Plot Twists to the Purge Pile).
• Retrieve a card — move the top of your Purge Pile to the bottom of your Shonen Deck.
• Place a progress marker on the current Chapter.
• Use a printed Action or Purge ability on a card in the Active Row.

Quick abilities can be used any time and don’t cost an action.

Challenges

Some cards let you issue a Challenge. Declare an attacker (one of your Characters) and a defender (one of your opponent’s). Each player draws the top card of their deck and adds its purge cost to their Character’s progress, applies any modifiers, and the higher total wins — the loser exhausts their Character, or purges it if it was already exhausted.

3. Epilogue

Trigger Epilogue abilities in turn order. Then whoever has the most total progress on the current Chapter — markers placed on it plus the progress values of their cards in play — claims it into their Chapters Won pile. If nobody has won yet: purge all Allies and Enduring Plot Twists, advance Story Arcs (add a marker, purge any at their Arc Limit), the player who didn’t claim plays a new Chapter, optionally purge unwanted cards from hand, and begin the next Prologue.

How to Win

Claim 3 Chapters to win. You immediately lose if your Shonen Deck runs out when you need to draw or purge, or if you’re ever left with no Protagonists. In 3–4 player games, actions pass clockwise and play continues until someone wins 3 Chapters or every rival is eliminated — which may take more than five Chapters.

Common Mistakes

• Forgetting that paying costs drains your deck. Purge-to-Play means every card you play thins your deck toward defeat — pace yourself.
• Over-extending your Protagonists. Losing all Protagonists is an instant loss; protect them.
• Ignoring purge abilities. Cards purged to pay costs can trigger useful Purge abilities — sometimes purging is the whole point.
• Treating progress as just markers. A Chapter is claimed on markers plus the progress values on your cards in play, so board presence matters.
• Playing Allies expecting them to stick. Allies are purged at the end of every Chapter; only Protagonists and Story Arcs carry over.