Воины сакуры: Первые шаги (Sakura Arms: Basic Set)

Воины сакуры: Первые шаги (Sakura Arms: Basic Set) Rulebook

Table of Contents

Overview

Sakura Arms is a two-player dueling card game. The winner is the player who reduces the opponent's Health to 0.

The game is played in three stages: Choosing Megami, Building a Deck and Duel Under the Sakura.

Choosing Megami: each player chooses two megami whose powers they will use.
Building a Deck: after studying the megami chosen by the opponent, each player builds the deck they will play with.
Duel Under the Sakura: once both decks are built, the duel begins. It is played on the game board. The current state of the battlefield is shown by 36 sakura petals placed in different areas of the board. For example, if the Distance area holds 5 sakura petals in total, the distance between you and your opponent is 5. By controlling the distance, you use attacks with a matching Range to reduce your opponent's Health to 0.

If this is your first game, we recommend working through the duel tutorial below (printed pages 3–7).

Learning the Duel (Tutorial)

The tutorial teaches the rules through three training duels. Each duel is played with a training set of cards, and each one adds new rules. We recommend playing all three. If time is short, one or two games are enough to get a feel for the game.

Each player's hands usually hold the power of one megami, so a player can draw on the powers of two megami at once. To make the first games easier, the tutorial splits the powers into two particles: one player takes the particle of Utsuro, the other takes the particle of Honoka. Choose one particle; your opponent gets the other.

Before starting the training duels, read the rules on pages 12–20.

First Duel

In the first duel the rules are simplified so you can learn the basics.

One player plays the particle of Utsuro and the other plays the particle of Honoka.
Take the training cards (they have a circle in the bottom right corner): 7 normal cards and 3 special cards for your particle. This is your training deck.

Utsuro's particle
- Normal cards: "Projection", "Side Strike", "Hold", "Knife in the Back", "Glare of Two Blades", "Gait", "Dive".
- Special cards: "Multiple Blades", "Sleep-Inducing Voice of Darkness", "Mantle of Suffering".
Honoka's particle
- Normal cards: "Petal Blades", "Sakura Katana", "Instant Spiritual Ritual", "Counterstrike", "Gait", "Gathering Sakura Petals", "Radiant Approach".
- Special cards: "Blade Full of Light", "Blizzard of Petals", "Winds of Spirits".
Prepare the instruction cards that match your particle. The reverse sides of the instruction cards contain hints and tips; read them.
Set up the game according to pages 12–13, with these changes:
- Skip the "Choosing Megami" and "Building a Deck" steps.
- The player with Utsuro's particle goes first.
- Do not shuffle the deck at the start. Instead, place the two cards numbered 3 (bottom right corner) at the bottom of the deck, the two cards numbered 2 in the middle of the deck, and the three cards numbered 1 on top of the deck.
- Do not change the starting cards.

The number in the bottom right corner of a training card shows the round in which you draw that card.

Second Duel

The second duel is much like the first.

This time you will try replacing your starting cards. Use the same decks as in the first duel and set up the game under the standard rules (skip the "Choosing Megami" and "Building a Deck" steps). If both players agree, you may swap decks.

Third Duel

In the third duel you finally go through the "Building a Deck" step.

Taking the previous games into account, replace some cards in the deck. Remember: attack cards are never superfluous.

In the third duel you build your own deck. Take all 13 cards available to you from your megami (including the cards without the training symbol: 2 normal cards and 1 special card), and choose 7 normal cards and 3 special cards from them. These 10 cards become your deck for the duel. The new cards you can now use are:

Utsuro's particle: "Affliction", "Shadow Trap", "Spikes of Deprivation".
Honoka's particle: "Blade of Light", "Spirit Aid", "Dazzling Dance".

After the Tutorial

Congratulations! Now you know the rules of the duel.

In later games each player uses the powers of two megami (we recommend starting with Yurina, Saine, Himika and Tokoyo) and builds a deck from their cards. If building a deck is still difficult, you can use the ready-made decks (see page 24).

Components

Training Cards (28)

The set used during the tutorial duels. It contains 18 normal cards, 8 special cards and 2 instruction cards.

Megami Reference Cards (6)

These describe the unique mechanics of each megami. The reverse side lists the megami's cards.

Energy Cards (2)

These track each player's current Energy.

Megami Cards (66)

42 normal cards: these are the power cards that the megami grant to the mikoto (the player). Each megami has 7 normal cards.
24 special cards: these are the special techniques of the megami. Each megami has 4 special cards.

Sakura Petals (40)

The petals of the Kamukura tree are the particles of megami power that you place on the game board. The game uses 36 petals; the other 4 are spares.

Stun Tokens (2)

When a player gains the Stun condition, they place this token on their Energy card.

Distance Tokens (2)

These let you track changes in Distance during a turn. They mark the Distance at the start of a turn and the changed value of Mastery Distance. They are used as needed when the effects of some cards are applied.

Stratagem Tile (1) and Stratagem Tokens (4)

Added to the game when using the powers of Shinra (included in the set "Sakura Arms: Masters of Duel"). Two of the Stratagem tokens are spares.

Storm Tile (1) and God of Wind and God of Thunder Tokens (4)

Added to the game when using the powers of Raira (included in the set "Sakura Arms: Masters of Duel"). Two of the tokens are spares.

Machine Tile (1)

Added to the game when using the powers of Sarya (included in the set "Sakura Arms: Masters of Duel"). Five artificial petal tokens (also in that set) are placed on the machine.

Rulebook (1)

You are holding it.

Game Board Halves (2)

Each half has several areas on which sakura petals are placed. The state of the battlefield changes depending on the number of petals in these areas. The areas are described below.

Health: shows your current Health. If your Health drops to 0, you lose.
Distance: shows the distance between you and your opponent. You cannot play an attack card if its Range does not match the current Distance. The Distance area cannot hold more than 10 petals. It does not matter which half of the board the petals are on: the distance between the opponents always equals the total number of petals in this area. For example, if all spaces of the Distance area on your half of the board are occupied but the other conditions are met, you can still perform the basic maneuver "Retreat".
Aura: a barrier of sakura petals surrounding the body of the mikoto. You can use them to block the opponent's attacks. The Aura area cannot hold more than 5 petals.
Flare: the petals that have struck the body of the mikoto. They are needed to pay the cost of special cards.
Ash: the petals that have lost their power. They are placed here when Aura takes damage, when petals are spent from Flare, and so on.

Important! Each player has their own Health, Aura and Flare areas. The Distance and Ash areas are shared by both players.

Placing the Sakura Petals on the game board follows the setup on pages 12–13 and the Setup instructions below.

Board Extension Covers (2)

Used to cover the cut-outs of the game board halves. If you use an additional component that extends the board, attach it to your board half and cover the cut-out of that additional component with a cover.

Card Structure

Card name.
Card number and megami name: the card's serial number and the megami the card belongs to.
Card type: every card has a type. There are three card types in the game: attack, action and enchantment. A card's type determines the rules for playing it (see pages 18–20).
Card subtype: some cards have a subtype: reaction or full power. Reaction cards can be played in response to an opponent's attack. If you play a full power card, you cannot do anything else in the current phase of your turn.
Card effect: a description of how the card works.
Range (attack cards only): the value of the distance between the opponents at which this attack can be performed.
Damage (attack cards only): the damage the attack deals on a hit. The number on the left is the damage dealt to Aura; the number on the right is the damage dealt to Health.
Charge (enchantment cards only): the number of sakura petals that must be placed on this card when it is played.
Cost (special cards only): the number of sakura petals that must be moved from the Flare area to the area to play this card.

Some cards show various symbols (see the picture on the left and the reference on page 32). They show the movement of sakura petals between the different areas of the game board. The number of petals to move is written above the arrow. Blue indicates your areas; red indicates your opponent's areas. If a purple arrow points in both directions, you choose the direction of the movement. For example, the bottom picture on the left means you may move 1 sakura petal from the Distance area to the Ash area or, conversely, from the Ash area to the Distance area.

Setup

Setting Up the Game Board

Join both halves of the game board. Place 10 sakura petals on the stone images in the Distance area. Place sakura petals in each player's personal areas: 3 petals in the Aura area and 10 petals in the Health area.

The setup picture on page 13 labels the following:

Megami Reference Cards: the reference cards of the megami whose powers the player uses.
Deck: the remaining 4 normal cards of the built deck.
Special Cards: the three special cards, lying face down until they are used.
Hand of Cards: the three cards drawn from the deck during the preparation step.
Energy Card: shows the player's Energy. The first player has 0 Energy and the opponent has 1 (the picture shows the view from the second player's side).

Choosing Megami

Each player chooses two megami whose powers they will use in this duel. Take the cards of your megami: 14 normal cards (7 in each megami's deck) and 8 special cards (4 in each megami's deck). Give your opponent the reference cards of the megami you have chosen.

Building a Deck

After studying both of the opponent's megami, each player builds a deck for the duel. Secretly from the opponent, choose 7 normal cards and 3 special cards from the cards available to you. If you find it difficult to build your own deck, you can use the example ready-made decks on page 24.

Once you have chosen the cards, place the 7 normal cards in a stack face down next to the game board. This will be your deck. Place the 3 special cards separately, face down. You may look at your special cards at any time. Then give your opponent back the reference cards of the megami they chose.

Preparing for the Duel

Choose the player who will go first by any method.
Each player shuffles their deck and takes the top 3 cards into their hand.
Each player may replace the starting cards once. Choose any number of cards from your hand and place them at the bottom of your deck in any order. Then draw the same number of cards from the top of the deck.
The first player sets their Energy card to "0"; the second player sets theirs to "1".

Once setup is complete, the game board should look like the picture on page 13.

Turn Structure

Players take turns, starting with the first player. Each player's turn consists of three phases: the Start Phase, the Main Phase and the End Phase. Both players skip the Start Phase on their first turn. Subsequent turns begin with the Start Phase.

Start Phase

Carry out the following 4 steps in the given order.

Gain 1 Energy. Turn your Energy card 90° so that the Energy value increases by 1. You can never have more than 2 Energy.
Remove 1 petal from enchantment cards. If there are enchantment cards in play, move 1 sakura petal from each enchantment card to the Ash area.
- Important! At this step, remove petals not only from your own enchantment cards but also from your opponent's enchantment cards.
- If an enchantment card has no sakura petals left, the enchantment dissolves, and the card is placed in the play stack. Its Disenchant effect is applied if the card has one. If several enchantments dissolve at the same time, the player whose turn it is chooses the order in which their effects are applied.
- Example. In the Start Phase of your turn, two enchantment cards are in play: your "Onslaught" with 1 sakura petal and your opponent's "Trembling Crystal", also with 1 sakura petal. First, you move the sakura petals from both cards to the Ash area. As a result, neither card has petals left, and their Disenchant effects trigger. You decide first to apply the effect of "Onslaught" and perform an attack of 3/–. After that, the effect of "Trembling Crystal" applies: your opponent performs an attack of 1/– and moves 1 sakura petal from the Ash area to the Distance area.
Form a new deck (optional). You may form a new deck. To do so, take all the cards from your deck, play stack and discard pile, shuffle them and place them face down as a new deck. If you form a new deck this way, your Health takes 1 damage.

Exhaustion

If you need to draw a card but there are no cards left in your deck, you choose either your Aura or your Health to take 1 damage. If there are no sakura petals left in your Aura area, you must choose damage to your Health. The exhaustion effect applies no matter what caused you to draw a card. You take 1 damage for each card you cannot draw.

Example. In the Start Phase of your turn you must draw 2 cards, but only 1 card is left in your deck. You have two options. The first is to form a new deck as described above. In that case your Health takes 1 damage and you can draw 2 cards. The second is to draw the 1 remaining card and take 1 damage from exhaustion (to your Aura or your Health, your choice). If the damage goes to your Aura, move 1 sakura petal from your Aura area to the Ash area. If the damage goes to your Health, move 1 sakura petal from your Health area to your Flare area.

Main Phase

In the Main Phase you perform either regular actions or one full power action.

A. Regular actions

Perform the following actions as many times as you like, in any order:

play a normal card from your hand, or a special card (not a full power card);
perform a basic maneuver.

B. Full power action

Play one full power card once.

End Phase

If you have 3 or more cards in your hand, discard cards from your hand face down until you have 2 cards left in your hand. (During your turn you may have any number of cards in your hand.)

After this, the next player takes their turn.

Playing Cards

During the Main Phase you can play normal cards from your hand, or face-down (unused) special cards.

Normal cards have no cost. You may play as many normal cards from your hand as you want (and are able to).

To play a special card, move a number of sakura petals equal to its cost from your Flare area to the Ash area. You cannot play a special card if you cannot pay its cost (if there are not enough sakura petals in your Flare area). A special card once played is considered used; turn it face up.

To play an attack card, you must be at the required distance from your opponent. The number of sakura petals in the Distance area must match the Range shown on the attack card.

Example. The current distance is 3, since there are 3 sakura petals in total in the Distance area. Therefore you can play "Chopping Strike" with a Range of 3–4. However, you cannot play the attack card "Shot", whose Range is 4–10.

The rules for playing cards depend on their type (attack, action, enchantment). See pages 18–20 for more detail.

Basic Maneuvers and Mastery Distance

A duel would not be a worthy fight if the opponents could not move and defend themselves. Movement and defense are carried out with basic maneuvers. For example, you can perform the basic maneuver Advance to move 1 sakura petal from the Distance area to your Aura area, thereby reducing the distance between you and your opponent by 1.

In the Main Phase, when you choose regular actions, you can perform basic maneuvers in addition to playing cards. To perform a basic maneuver, pay its cost in one of the following ways (basic maneuvers can be performed as many times as you can pay their cost):

reduce the value of your Energy by 1;
discard 1 card from your hand.

Note. If you discard a card from your hand to pay the cost of a maneuver, you cannot apply the effect of the discarded card.

There are 5 basic maneuvers in total. Normally 4 of them are available to you:

Advance: move 1 sakura petal from the Distance area to your Aura area.
Retreat: move 1 sakura petal from your Aura area to the Distance area.
Recover: move 1 sakura petal from the Ash area to your Aura area.
Focus: move 1 sakura petal from your Aura area to your Flare area.

When the distance between the opponents is equal to the Mastery Distance or less, the players cannot advance by using the basic maneuver Advance (they can still advance using the effects of cards). In that case the fifth basic maneuver becomes available:

Breakaway: move 1 sakura petal from the Ash area to the Distance area.

As a rule the Mastery Distance is 2, but some card effects can change this value.

Important! You cannot perform a basic maneuver if you cannot move a sakura petal. For example, you cannot perform Advance if your Aura area already holds 5 petals, or Retreat if your Aura area holds 0 petals.

Card Placement

During the game, cards may be in your hand, in the deck, in the play stack, in the discard pile and so on. To make it easy to see the current state of any card at any time, we recommend following these card placement rules:

Deck: normal cards lie in the deck face down.
Play Stack: normal cards, once played, are placed face up in the play stack.
Discard Pile: normal cards that are discarded as a result of effects other than the card's own main effect (for example, when paying for basic maneuvers) are placed face down in the discard pile, turned 90°. Only you may look at these cards.
Enchantments: played enchantment cards lie face up. While an enchantment card is in effect, it has the corresponding number of sakura petals on it. This is what distinguishes enchantment cards from used special cards and played normal cards.
Special Cards: special cards lie face down next to each other. At the start of the game, all chosen special cards count as unused. When you play a special card, turn it face up; it is now used. Only you may look at the face of your unused special cards.
Hand: keep these cards face down in your hand, so they are not mixed up with other cards.

Playing Attack Cards

When you play an attack card, go through the following steps in the given order.

The player being attacked may play 1 reaction card in response. If they do, the effect of the attacked player's reaction card is applied first.
- Important! Even if an attack card is played in response, its effect is applied first and no reaction card can be played in response to it.
Check whether the current distance matches the attack's Range (the distance may have changed because of a reaction card). If the distance does not match the Range, the attack is considered failed: no damage is dealt and the After Attack effects are not applied. If the distance still matches the Range, the attack is considered successful.
The attacked player chooses whether the damage goes to their Aura or to their Health, and then takes the corresponding amount of damage.
Apply the After Attack effects, if the attack card has any.
Whether or not the attack was successful, its card goes to the play stack (a special card becomes used).

Attacks Within Card Effects

The effects of some cards that are not attack cards allow you to perform an attack. In that case go through the following steps in the given order:

Check whether the distance between you and your opponent matches the Range of this attack. If it does not, nothing happens; skip the following steps.
The attacked player may play a reaction card in response.
Check again whether the distance between you and your opponent matches the Range of the attack. If it does not, the attack is considered failed; skip the following steps.
The attacked player chooses whether the damage goes to their Aura or to their Health, and then takes the corresponding amount of damage.
Apply the After Attack effects, if this attack has any.

Taking Damage

If a player must take damage from an attack, they choose which value takes the damage: Aura or Health. However, if a player must take damage in an amount greater than the number of sakura petals in their Aura area, they must choose damage to their Health. The exceptions are when the damage to one of the values is shown as "–". In that case the damage always goes to the other value. If the damage from an attack to Aura is 6 or more, it is instead considered to be 5. This rule does not apply to attacks with the Crush property.

Types of Damage

There are two types of damage in the game: damage to Aura and damage to Health.

If damage is dealt to your Aura, move sakura petals equal to the amount of damage from your Aura area to the Ash area.
If damage is dealt to your Health, move sakura petals equal to the amount of damage from your Health area to your Flare area.

Put simply: when damage goes to your Aura, you block the attack with a barrier of sakura petals; damage to your Health happens when the attack reaches your body.

Example of an attack. The current distance is 3, so I use "Chopping Strike" with damage 3/1.

My Aura value is 2, so if nothing changes I would have to take the damage to my Health. But I play "Trembling Crystal" in response.

First, the reaction card "Trembling Crystal" resolves. The damage from "Chopping Strike" changes by −1/+0 and becomes 2/1.

Now I can protect myself with my Aura! I move 2 sakura petals from my Aura area to the Ash area.

I end my turn.

Now it is my turn. In the Start Phase the enchantment "Trembling Crystal" dissolves, and its Disenchant effect applies: an attack of 1/–.

The Range is 0–10, so it would not be hard to hit. Since the Health damage is shown as "–", the damage will always go to my Aura. So I move 1 sakura petal from my Aura area to the Ash area. Then the effect that moves 1 petal from the Ash area to the Distance area applies.

Playing Action Cards

After playing an action card, apply the effect shown on it, then place the card in the play stack face up. If it is a special card, it becomes used and remains in the special card area face up.

Playing Enchantment Cards

To play an enchantment card, follow these steps:

Move sakura petals equal to the card's Charge value from the Ash area and/or your Aura area onto this enchantment card. You may choose which area to take petals from and how many. If you do not have enough petals, you may still play the enchantment card, but you must move onto it all the petals in the Ash area and your Aura area. After this the enchantment card counts as played, and its Initialize effect applies, if it has one.
While the enchantment card has sakura petals on it, its Ongoing effect applies.
When no sakura petals remain on the enchantment card, the card goes to the play stack face up (or stays in the special card area face up, if it is a special card). Its Disenchant effect applies, if it has one.

Example. I play the card "Silent Barrier" and move 3 sakura petals from the Ash area and 2 petals from my Aura area onto it. As a result, my Aura value becomes 0, which activates the Recovery of "Silent Icebreaker". Nice!

Then I use "Onslaught": I take 1 sakura petal each from the Ash and Aura areas. Now I have 4 petals in my Aura area, so I will perform an Advance and end my turn!

Basic Principles

If the area into which a sakura petal must be moved already holds the maximum number of petals, the petal is not moved. For example, if your Aura value is 5, you cannot use the basic maneuver Advance.
If the area from which you must move sakura petals (as a result of damage or a card effect) does not hold enough petals, move all the petals you can.
If a card lists several effects, apply them in order, from top to bottom.
A card's text takes precedence over the rules.
If two effects contradict each other, one allowing and one forbidding the same action, the forbidding effect takes priority.

Modifier +X/+Y

This modifier changes the damage of an attack, increasing or decreasing it depending on the sign ("+" or "–"). The number on the left (X) changes the damage dealt to Aura; the number on the right (Y) changes the damage dealt to Health. This modifier does not apply if the starting damage value is shown as "–".

Keywords

Unanswerable

"Unanswerable" is a property of some attacks. You cannot play a reaction card if an attack with the Unanswerable property is performed against you. If there is a qualifying condition in parentheses after the term Unanswerable, for example "Unanswerable (normal cards)", then the cards specified in the parentheses cannot be played in response.

Recovery and Immediate Recovery

"Recovery" and "Immediate Recovery" are properties of some special cards that allow a used special card to be restored when a certain condition is met. If, in the End Phase of your turn, the condition needed to restore a special card is met, turn that card face down; it is now ready to be used again. A special card with the Immediate Recovery property becomes ready to be used again at the moment the conditions needed for its immediate recovery are met.

Always

Some attack and action cards have the Always property. This means that the effect of the card changes in a certain way, usually when certain conditions are met. Before playing a card with the Always property, check whether it can be played and how.

Seal

To seal a card, place it under a card with the Seal property. A sealed card is effectively removed from the game, although some effects may move a sealed card to another area.

All Out

You may play a card with the All Out property instead of a full power card when you perform the full power action in your Main Phase. In that case, its All Out effects apply. Cards with the All Out property are not full power cards. You may play a card with the All Out property under the normal rules, but in that case its All Out effects do not apply.

Used

Some special cards have the Used property, whose effect applies only when that special card has been used.

Inevitable

"Inevitable" is a property of some attacks. An attack with this property deals damage, and its effects apply, even if a reaction card was played in response and, after the change in distance, the opponent is outside the attack's Range.

Stun

"Stun" is a player condition. When a player gains the Stun condition, they place a stun token on their Energy card. If a stunned player must increase their Energy value, they do not increase it; instead, they remove the Stun condition (by removing the stun token from the Energy card). A player cannot gain the Stun condition if they are already stunned. A stunned player may still spend Energy.

Note. If you are stunned and your Energy value is already 2, you cannot increase the Energy value, but you still remove the Stun condition at the moment when you would have increased it.

Restriction

"Restriction" is a property of some cards. Having played a card with this property during your own turn, you may no longer play other cards or perform basic maneuvers until the end of your turn. Having played a card with this property during your opponent's turn, you may no longer play other cards (reactions) until the end of the current turn of your opponent.

Cancel

This effect allows you to ignore the damage from attacks and the After Attack effects. Cancelling damage cancels only the damage; cancelling After Attack effects cancels only those effects. Cancelling an attack cancels both its damage and its After Attack effects.

Weakness

"Weakness" is a property of some enchantment cards. If an enchantment card with this property is in play and your Health takes at least 1 damage from any cause other than forming a new deck, then all sakura petals on that enchantment card are moved to the Ash area, and the enchantment card goes to the discard pile. Because the card does not go to the play stack, this is not considered dissolving, and the Disenchant effect does not apply.

Important! Damage to Aura has no interaction with Weakness.

Crush

The maximum damage that an attack can deal to Aura is 5. Cards with the Crush property ignore this rule and can deal 6 or more damage to Aura.

Increase Attack Range

This effect increases the Range of an attack. The min modifier refers to the minimum value of the Range, and the max modifier refers to the maximum value.

"Increase attack Range (min X)" means the Range increases toward you by the given number.
"Increase attack Range (max X)" means the Range increases toward your opponent by the given number.

For example, the Range of "Chopping Strike" is 3–4. After "Increase attack Range (max 1)" its Range becomes 3–5; after "Increase attack Range (min 1)" it becomes 2–4.

The Range of "Piercing Slash" is 3. After "Increase attack Range (max 1)" its Range becomes 3–4; after "Increase attack Range (min 1)" it becomes 2–3.

The Range of "Alpha Edges" is 1, 3, 5, 7. After "Increase attack Range (max 1)" its Range becomes 1, 3, 5, 7–8; after "Increase attack Range (min 1)" it becomes 0–1, 3, 5, 7.

Decrease Attack Range

This effect decreases the Range of an attack. The min modifier refers to the minimum value of the Range, and the max modifier refers to the maximum value.

"Decrease attack Range (min X)" means the Range decreases toward you by the given number.
"Decrease attack Range (max X)" means the Range decreases toward your opponent by the given number.

For example, the Range of "Chopping Strike" is 3–4. After "Decrease attack Range (max 1)" its Range becomes 3; after "Decrease attack Range (min 1)" it becomes 4.

The Range of "Piercing Slash" is 3. After the effect with either modifier ("max 1" or "min 1"), this attack loses its Range and is cancelled.

The Range of "Alpha Edges" is 1, 3, 5, 7. After "Decrease attack Range (max 1)" its Range becomes 1, 3, 5; after "Decrease attack Range (min 1)" it becomes 3, 5, 7.

Ready-Made Decks

If you have trouble building a deck, you can use the following ready-made decks. Each of these decks consists of 9 normal cards and 4 special cards, so before the game begins you need to remove 2 normal cards and 1 special card from each deck. (If you are still unsure, remove the cards that the printed page marks in red; the red highlighting cannot be shown in this transcription.)

Yurina and Saine

Normal cards: "Chopping Strike", "Piercing Slash", "Pommel Strike", "Lightning Lunge", "Onslaught", "Cleaving Swing", "Stunning Lunge", "Sphere of Influence", "Trembling Crystal".
Special cards: "Crash of the Lunar Shadow", "Rhythmic Swings", "Resonant Rhythm", "Silent Icebreaker".

Yurina and Himika

Normal cards: "Chopping Strike", "Piercing Slash", "Pommel Strike", "Stability", "Rapid Fire", "Magnum", "Cannonade", "Step Back", "Reverse Thrust".
Special cards: "Crash of the Lunar Shadow", "Red Cartridge", "Crimson Wasteland", "Scarlet Visions".

Yurina and Tokoyo

Normal cards: "Chopping Strike", "Piercing Slash", "Pommel Strike", "Lightning Lunge", "Gliding Strike", "Polite Response", "Rabbit Leap", "Song and Dance", "Turning Point".
Special cards: "Storm Advance", "Immortelle", "Eternal Wanderer", "Endless Wind".

Saine and Himika

Normal cards: "Rhythmic Movement", "Cleaving Swing", "Stunning Lunge", "Sphere of Influence", "Shot", "Rapid Fire", "Magnum", "Step Back", "Reverse Thrust".
Special cards: "Rhythmic Swings", "Resonant Rhythm", "Red Cartridge", "Scarlet Visions".

Saine and Tokoyo

Normal cards: "Rhythmic Movement", "Cleaving Swing", "Stunning Lunge", "Sphere of Influence", "Trembling Crystal", "Gliding Strike", "Polite Response", "Song and Dance", "Turning Point".
Special cards: "Silent Icebreaker", "Immortelle", "Endless Wind", "Eternal Moon of Tokoyo".

Himika and Tokoyo

Normal cards: "Shot", "Rapid Fire", "Magnum", "Step Back", "Gliding Strike", "Polite Response", "Rabbit Leap", "Song and Dance", "Windy Landscape".
Special cards: "Red Cartridge", "Crimson Wasteland", "Immortelle", "Endless Wind".

Megami Special Rules

Each megami of intermediate and advanced level has additional rules, given below.

Oboro

Some Oboro cards have the Trap property.

Trap: each time before forming a new deck, you may first play 1 card with the Trap property from your discard pile (if there is such a card there).

Yukihi

If you choose the powers of Yukihi, during setup take the double-sided umbrella card and place it with the "Closed" side up.

Some Yukihi cards show open and closed umbrella symbols. The Range and damage values, and the effects, of such cards change depending on the current state of the umbrella.

Once during the End Phase of your turn, you may open or close the umbrella: turn the umbrella card to the appropriate side.

Shinra

If you choose the powers of Shinra, during setup attach the Stratagem Tile to the game board, and take two stratagem tokens: one "Divine Design" (the blue token) and one "Diabolical Intent" (the red token).

Place these tokens face down on the Stratagem Tile: the "Divine Design" token in the light cell and the "Diabolical Intent" token in the dark cell. This is the starting layout of the stratagem tokens. The token in the light cell determines the active stratagem.

Some Shinra cards allow you to carry out her stratagem. When you play such a card, turn the stratagem token in the light cell face up and apply the effect of the card that corresponds to the revealed token.

Once a stratagem has been carried out, prepare a new one: secretly from your opponent, place one stratagem token face down in the active cell and one face down in the inactive cell of the Stratagem Tile.

Note. If for any reason a player has not prepared a stratagem, they must do so in the End Phase of their turn.

Hagane

Some Hagane cards have the Escalation property.

You may play a card with the Escalation property only if both of the following conditions are met:

the current Distance value is at least 2 higher than the Distance value at the start of the turn;
you have not performed any attacks this turn.

Chikage

If you choose the powers of Chikage, during setup take the following cards: "Paralyzing Poison", "Hallucinogenic Poison", "Weakening Poison" and 2 cards "Obscuring Poison". Place them in a separate area called the poison bag.

These cards have the Poison characteristic. A card with the Poison characteristic can never be discarded under any circumstances, and it is not considered to lie in the discard pile.

When applying the effects of some Chikage cards, you place cards from the poison bag into your opponent's hand and deck. The opponent can never discard these cards, and they are not considered to lie in the discard pile.

Each time a player whose deck or play stack contains at least 1 Poison card must form a new deck, they shuffle all cards except the Poison cards. Then they place all of their Poison cards on top of their deck, in random order.

Note 1. Poison cards are not considered "megami cards" for the effects of other megami. (For example, some effects of Raira electrify cards of "other megami". Poison cards are not electrified in such a case.)

Note 2. "Poison" is not a property but a classifying characteristic of the card. This means that the "poisonous" nature of a card is not copied when a normal card (for example, "Duplicator") becomes a copy of it.

Kururu

If you choose the powers of Kururu, during setup take 3 "Duplicator" cards and set them aside. You may add these cards to your deck by applying the effect of the "Industry" card. While the "Duplicator" cards are not in your deck, you cannot play them.

In the top left corner of the frames of some cards there are gear teeth. To apply the effect described in such a frame, you must have a certain number of cards of the specified type or subtype lying face up. Face-up cards include the cards in the play stack, active enchantment cards and used special cards. The required type (subtype) is marked by a crystal on the gear frame. The gear frame icons show: attack, action, enchantment, reaction, full power.

Example 1. If the special card "Exhausted Devil" has been used, and the play stack contains "Turn!" and "Accelerator", then you may apply the effect of the card "Generator".

Example 2. If the special card "Immortelle" has been used, then you may apply the effect of the card "Reflector".

Example 3. If the play stack contains the card "Rhythmic Movement" and the enchantment card "Trembling Crystal" is in effect, then you may apply the effect of the card "Reflector".

Note. If you cannot apply the effect in a gear frame, you can still apply the effects of that card that are given outside such a frame.

Raira

If you choose the powers of Raira, during setup attach the Storm Tile to the game board. Then take 1 God of Wind token and 1 God of Thunder token and place them on the "0" mark of the corresponding scales. The maximum value of each scale is 20. So, starting from the value 10 (when the token returns to 0), place the tokens with the side showing "1" face up.

Also take and set aside the following cards: "Wind Demon: Appearance", "Wind Demon: Reincarnation", "Wind Demon: Death". You may add these cards to the game by applying the effect of the card "Summoning of the Wind Demon". While these cards are not in the game, their effects do not apply.

Each time you play a card that does not belong to Raira, that card is electrified. You may discharge an electrified card and increase the value of the God of Wind scale or the God of Thunder scale by 1, in the following cases:

immediately after you have played the card and it has become electrified;
in the Main Phase of your turn, before or after performing a regular action;
in the Start Phase of your turn, immediately before forming a new deck.

Turn the discharged card 90° to show that it has been discharged.

Note. Put simply, when you play any megami card other than Raira's, you increase the value of the God of Wind scale or the God of Thunder scale by 1. Even if you forgot to do this when you played the card, you can still increase one of the values later.

Example 1. You use "Sliding Strike". Before applying its effect, you note that "Sliding Strike" does not belong to Raira, so this card is electrified. Then you immediately discharge the electrified card by turning it 90°, and increase the value of the God of Wind scale by 1. After this, according to the After Attack effect, the card "Sliding Strike" returns to the top of the deck.

Example 2. In the Main Phase of your turn you used the special card "Infinite Wind", which electrified that card. You immediately discharge it and increase the value of the God of Thunder scale by 1.

Example 3. In the Start Phase of a new turn, you are about to form a new deck, but you remember that you forgot to discharge the card "Rabbit Leap" you played earlier, which now lies in the play stack. So you discharge that card and increase the value of the God of Wind scale by 1.

Sarya

If you choose the powers of Sarya, during setup attach the Machine Tile to the game board. Then take 5 artificial petal tokens (included in the set "Sakura Arms: Masters of Duel") and place them on the machine. Set aside the following cards: "Form: Yaksha", "Form: Naga", "Form: Garuda". You may add these cards to the game by applying the effect of the card "Julia's Black Box". While these cards are not in the game, their effects do not apply.

Note 1. If both mikoto have chosen Sarya, we recommend using artificial petals of different colors.

Note 2. Artificial petals differ from real ones, so they cannot be moved according to the rules for moving real sakura petals.

Some Sarya cards have the following special properties:

Burn / Recreate

To burn an artificial petal means to place it in the Burn area. To recreate means to return an artificial petal to the machine.

To play a card with the Burn property, you must burn 1 artificial petal that is on the machine. If there are no artificial petals left on the machine, you cannot play a card with the Burn property.

Dash

A dash is a temporary movement effect, similar to the basic maneuvers Advance and Retreat. If you play a card with the Dash property, choose one of the following options: Dash forward or Dash back.

Dash forward: place an artificial petal from the machine onto one of the sakura petals in the Distance area that does not yet have an artificial petal on it. Sakura petals in the Distance area that have an artificial petal on them are not counted when calculating distance, and other effects cannot be applied to them. You cannot choose "Dash forward" if there are no suitable sakura petals in the Distance area.
Dash back: place an artificial petal from the machine onto a free cell in the Distance area. These petals are counted when calculating distance, but they cannot be chosen as sakura petals for other actions.

In the Start Phase of your turn, burn all the artificial petals used for dashes (place them in the Burn area).

Note 1. If there are no artificial petals on the machine, you cannot perform a dash.

Note 2. You cannot use a sakura petal that has an artificial petal on it, so it cannot be moved out of the Distance area.

Note 3. If the Distance area holds 10 petals in total (including artificial petals), no new petals may be moved into that area.

Transformation

If your machine transforms, choose one of the following cards: "Form: Yaksha", "Form: Naga", "Form: Garuda". Place the chosen card on your machine and apply its Transformation effect.

The effect of "Transformation" from the chosen card stays in effect until the end of the game. In addition, a new basic maneuver described on that card becomes available to you.

Icon Reference

The reference on page 32 of the printed rulebook shows the following icons and labels. The icons themselves are pictures and are not reproduced here.

Attack card
Action card
Enchantment card
Full power card
Reaction card
Bonus card
Recovery
Immediate recovery
Opponent's Health
Opponent's Aura
Opponent's Flare
Your Health
Your Aura
Your Flare
Ash
Distance