Mindbug: First Contact
132 questions players ask about Mindbug: First Contact. Pick one for the answer. See also the full rulebook.
Updated 2026-11-06.
Setup and Mixing Sets
- How do I set up a two-player game of Mindbug?
- How do you decide who takes the first turn?
- How many of the 48 cards are used in each game?
- Can I look at my 10-card deck before drawing my opening hand?
- Can I shuffle First Contact, New Servants, promos and other Mindbug sets into one deck?
- With the 2022 Promo Pack, do I have to remove duplicate cards already in New Creations?
- How can I tell base-game cards from upgrade-deck cards and promos?
Turns, Drawing and Hand
- Can I play a card and attack in the same turn, and can several creatures attack?
- Can I pass my turn if I do not want to play or attack?
- When exactly do I draw back up to five cards?
- Is there a hand size limit?
- After Giraffodile puts my whole discard pile in hand, do I keep drawing up to five?
- When I must discard two cards, do I draw back to five after each or after both?
- Is the discard pile ever shuffled back into my draw pile?
Playing Cards and Mindbugs
- After my card is Mindbugged, what happens to turn order?
- Can the opponent Mindbug two of my cards in a row?
- Can I Mindbug a creature my opponent has just Mindbugged from me?
- Can a card put into play by an effect, such as Compost Dragon or Grave Robber, be Mindbugged?
- Can I Mindbug a card after its owner already resolved the Play effect?
- When I decide whether to Mindbug, is the played card's own ability already active?
- When I Mindbug my opponent's card, whose turn is it while its Play effect resolves?
- After my creature is Mindbugged, is it an enemy creature to me?
- Whose discard pile does a Mindbugged creature go to when it is defeated?
Combat and Blocking
- Can I choose not to block and take the life loss instead?
- Can I attack when the opponent has no creatures?
- Can two creatures block the same attack together?
- Can I block with a card from my hand?
- Can I attack my own creatures?
- Does attacking tap a creature, so it cannot block later?
- Does a creature that survives a fight carry any damage into its next fight?
- Can the same creature block both attacks of a Frenzy creature such as Slugapult?
- Can the game stall if nobody wants to attack?
- Do Attack abilities resolve before the defender chooses a blocker?
Hunter and Sneaky
- If I attack with a Hunter, can the opponent refuse to block and take the life loss?
- Is using Hunter optional?
- What does the Hunter note about not attacking the opponent directly mean?
- Can Hunter choose a creature that normally cannot block?
- If a creature has both Sneaky and Hunter, does Sneaky limit which creature I can hunt?
- Can a Sneaky attacker be blocked by a non-Sneaky creature, and what if the opponent has no Sneaky creature?
- Can a Sneaky creature block a non-Sneaky attacker?
- When a creature has Hunter and an Attack ability, what resolves first?
Frenzy
- With two Frenzy creatures, can I attack with both in one turn?
- Does the defender get a separate block decision for each Frenzy attack?
- Does a Frenzy creature attack again if it is defeated in the first attack?
- Does an Attack ability trigger on both Frenzy attacks?
- Can a Frenzy and Hunter creature hunt a different creature on each attack?
- Does Lone Yeti's power get recalculated between its two Frenzy attacks?
- Can I use a Frenzy creature's second attack after I take control of it mid-turn?
- If my first Frenzy attack triggers a take-control effect, can I block the second attack with the stolen creature?
- Does Frenzy still give a second attack when the first attack was granted by an ability?
Poisonous and Tough
- Does Poisonous work when a creature is defeated by an effect rather than in combat?
- Does Poisonous work both when attacking and when blocking, and even if the Poisonous creature loses?
- When two Poisonous creatures fight, are both defeated?
- If a Poisonous or stronger creature fights a Tough creature, is the Tough creature defeated twice?
- How many defeats does a Tough creature survive, and does it work against effects?
- What does exhausted mean, and can an exhausted creature still attack or block?
- Does a Tough creature's Defeated effect trigger when it is only exhausted?
- Can a Frenzy creature with Tough attack again after being blocked?
- Can Explosive Toad's Defeated effect defeat a Tough creature that was already defeated in the same combat?
Effects, Triggers and Timing
- Are Play, Attack and Defeated effects mandatory?
- What if an effect can only be partly resolved?
- Who chooses the order when several effects trigger at once, such as multiple Defeated effects?
- When two creatures are defeated in one fight, are both in the discard before their Defeated effects resolve?
- If my Attack effect defeats my own creature, does its Defeated effect trigger?
- If the attacker is defeated during its own Attack ability, does the attack still happen?
- If my Attack effect defeats a creature, can an enemy Poisonous creature then defeat my attacker?
- If my Attack effect defeats an Explosive Toad, can its Defeated effect stop my attack?
- If a card plays another card from the discard pile, does its Play effect trigger?
Power, Control and Discard
- Is power checked when an effect resolves, and does it include bonuses?
- Do power-based effects use printed power or current power?
- Do power bonuses from several creatures stack?
- Does a 'during your turn' bonus, like Goblin Werewolf's +6, apply when I block on the opponent's turn?
- Can a creature's power be reduced below 1?
- How do 'highest power' and 'lowest power' effects work with ties or a single creature?
- Does taking control of a creature trigger its Play effect or reset it?
- Can Harpy Mother take a creature that is defeated or in the opponent's hand, and must she take two?
- Can a discard effect take cards from play?
Card Rulings
- How does Sluggernaut's Tough work and which side does it keep?
- Does Giraffodile draw my whole discard pile?
- Which keywords does Sharky Crab-Dog-Mummypus copy, and when does it lose them?
- Does Wild Chimera copy keywords all the time, or only in a fight?
- What does Deathweaver stop, and does the effect follow control?
- Can Majestic Manticore defeat itself with its Attack ability?
- How does Count Draculeech's Attack effect work?
- How does Snail Hydra's Attack effect work?
- How does Explosive Toad's Defeated effect work?
- Does Turbo Bug's attack really bring the opponent to 1 life and then win?