Disco Infinity - Rulebook

Intro

Disco Infinity is a 1v1 competitive Sequence Building card game. It includes elements of deck building card games as well as a placement mechanic where players take turns choosing a card from their hand and placing it anywhere in the card sequence. In order to outplay your opponent, you will need to plan ahead and think carefully about where and when you play your cards.

Objectives

Achieving any of these objectives ends the game immediately:

Reduce your opponent's Shields to 0.
Acquire 10 Research Points.
Have 15 more Power Tokens in play then your opponent.

Game Structure

The game is played with 2 players, seated across from one another with the play space between them.
Each player has a draw pile, a discard pile, and a hand of cards.
The game board consists of an action row where cards are played, and orbit rows where satellites orbit the action row. Satellites act as persistent effect cards.
Players take turns placing cards in the action row and once there are 6 cards in the action row, the cards' action effects are triggered.
The game ends when one player meets any of the win conditions.

Starting the Game

Each player chooses one of the 5 factions and starts with the 8 base cards for that faction, denoted by the symbol just below the card name in the upper left of the card.

There will be more details about the factions a little later in the rulebook.

Next, each player takes turns doing 4 Draft Cycles, resulting in each player starting with a 12 card starting deck. Shuffle your starting deck, and that becomes your draw pile.

Each player starts with 20 Shields and 0 Research Points and 0 Power Tokens on the board. The maximum Shields you can have is 30, and you cannot go negative in Research Points or Power Tokens.

Hand Mechanics

At the beginning of each round, you will draw 5 cards from your draw pile. This is also where you draw cards from if you play a card with a draw card effect.

At the end of each round, all of the cards you played that are still in the action row, and any unplayed cards are moved to your discard pile.

Any cards you played that are not in the orbit row or were trashed in the course of the round are not moved to your discard pile.

Eventually, your draw pile will be empty when you try to draw a card, and your draw pile will be empty. Once this happens, your discard pile is shuffled, and it becomes your draw pile, and you can continue drawing from it. It is important that you do not pre-emptively shuffle your discard pile into your draw pile until you actually draw a card. This is because usually when you add a new card to your deck, it goes to your discard pile first.

Round Structure

Each turn consists of the following phases:

Start of Round
Placement Phase
Action Phase
Drift Phase
End of Round
Draft Cycle (optional)

There will be more details about the phases after a description of some of the game mechanics.

Game Board

The central piece of the board is the Action Row. The Action Row is 6 spaces, numbered 1-6. These are called action spaces. This is where you and your opponent will compete to create action sequences that advance your agenda and stop your opponent from advancing their agenda. Once a round starts, you and your opponent take turns placing cards into the Action Row. Every time you place a card, you may place your card anywhere in the current sequence.

This means that before the last card is placed, the action space that a card occupies is ambiguous. It also means that the player going last in the round has the advantage of being able to place the final card and guarantee the action space it is placed in. Players take turns going first each round.

TODO: Create some really nice diagrams of this!

Some cards have an effect that triggers on Placement. This is denoted by the card section "Placement:" in the yellow section. If you place a card with such an effect, do what the card says in the Placement section when you put it in the Action Row. Often these effects can help you rearrange other cards in the Action Row or have other immediate impact on the game such as moving a Satellite or getting a card out of the trash pile.

Once all 6 cards have been placed in the Action Row, their Action effects trigger in order from Space 1 to Space 6. Begin in Space 1 and do what the card says in the "Action:" section, and go in order to Space 6. After the cards in all 6 Spaces have been triggered, the Action Phase is over.

Satellites

One type of cards has the ability to stay on the board at the end of the round. Satellite cards default Action effect is that they launch into your Orbit Row. This is the row between you and the Action Row. The Satellite launches into the Space in the orbit row aligned with the Space in the Action Row where it was triggered. Then the Satellite will generally stay in that place (with some exceptions) until it is either destroyed (generally by a Missile Card) or moved or stolen (by a card with the ability to Select a Satellite and move it).

Note: Satellites can stack! There can be multiple Satellites in one Space.

Drift -- Satellites with this symbol attached to them move 1 Space downstream at the end of the Action Phase and before the End of Turn Phase. An example is Space Mine. This card moves 1 Space at the end of each turn, enabling it to likely run into another Satellite if there are any downstream of it and blow them up.

End of Round

Several Satellite cards have End of Round effects. These all trigger simultaneously at the end of the round. If there are some where the ordering is ambiguous, the owner of the Satellites with the End of Round effects may do the effects in whatever order they choose. However, these effects are not optional, so you cannot choose to skip one entirely (unless it is specified on the card that the effect is optional).

Note: The most common End of Round effect is Gain 1 Power Token on this card. This is very important for generating Power Tokens. The other important thing about Satellites is that they are the primary carrier of Power Tokens from turn to turn.

Power Tokens

Several cards generate Power Tokens, and Power Tokens are always on a card. At the end of a Round, any power tokens that are on cards in the Action Row will go away with those cards. So if you want to accumulate Power Tokens and hold onto them, you will need to do so with Satellites. This makes Satellites a key part of the game if you are pursuing a Power Token victory or if you are using Power Tokens to support some other strategy!

Note: If you ever have 15 more Power Tokens than your opponent, the game ends, and you win.

Research Points

While Power Tokens are attached to cards, Research Points are attached to the Space in which you got them. If you gain a Research Point in Space 2, that Research Point is located in that Space. Some cards scale based on the number of Research Points in the space where they are triggered. Other cards can steal or destroy Research Points in the Space where they are triggered. You should think carefully about where you want your Research Points to be.

However, regardless of which Spaces your Research Points are in, you win immediately if you ever accumulate 10 total.

Damage Cards

Many cards in the game do Damage to your opponent.

Missile Cards

Missile Cards exist primarily to do Damage to your opponent, but Missiles can also be used to shoot down Satellites. You must trigger the Missile Card from the Space in the same column as the Satellite(s) you want to shoot down (unless otherwise noted on the Missile Card!). This means that a Satellite in Space 3 of your opponent's orbit row may only be shot down by a Missile Card Triggered from Column 3. If there are multiple Satellites stacked, they are all destroyed (unless there is a Satellite with some special defensive ability that protects the others).

If a Missile hits a Satellite (or Satellites), the Missile Damage is absorbed by the destroyed Satellite and does not affect your opponent's Shields. This means Satellites also have the potential to play a defensive role in certain situations.

If your Missile does not hit any Satellites, the Damage is done to your opponent's Shields.

Round Structure Part 2

Start of Round

At the start of each round, you and your opponent both draw 5 cards, and do the Start of Round effects on any Satellites you have in orbit.

Placement Phase

Take turns placing cards in the row. Ends after 6 cards are in the row.

Action Phase

Action effects on cards are triggered starting in space 1 and moving to space 6.

Drift Phase

Any Satellites that drift are moved now.

End of Round

Any End of Round effects on Satellites you have in orbit trigger now.

Draft Cycle (optional)

Optionally, take 3 cards from the top of the draft deck, choose one and add it to your discard pile. The other two are moved to the cycled deck.

Factions

Felicity Guns**

This deck starts with some powerful Missile cards, but they are most powerful when you are able to get them into specific spaces. To help with that, you should be on the lookout for board manipulation cards that can help you get your cards into their intended spaces.

This deck also synergizes well with cards that produce Power Tokens, so be on the lookout for Satellites as well.

Frankie Nebulove**

This deck has a lot of Power Token generation capabilities, but it lacks Satellites to store them on.

This deck also contains several cards that spend Power Tokens as well as use them to scale. Look for Satellites as a priority in your Draft Cycles.

Dr. Blazimir Funkovich*

This deck is primarily focused on generating Research Points with the Research Satellite. It comes with some cards that will help you manipulate the order of the action row as well as a card to move your Satellite out of danger.

This deck benefits from the addition of some other threat you can bring to the table, whether that is some Damage scaling or Power Token generation. This further helps you distract an opponent from attacking your Research Satellite.

Zandra Haxwell***

This deck can be a more challenging deck to play with, because most of the cards in the deck are focused on countering your opponent's strategies.

When you are drafting this deck, you need to look for a way to push your own agenda. This is a more advanced deck that can require a bit more knowledge of the game to play effectively.

Captain Blackstar****

This deck is a Satellite focused deck with a Satellite that can fire Missiles. It also has a Satellite that can double the Damage output of Missiles. In order to make this work, you will need to find a source of Power Tokens and take advantage of your ability to move Power Tokens and get cards back out of the trash if you lose important Satellites.

This can be a challenging deck to play with, so it is not recommended for your first playthrough.

Game Terms

Shields

This is the health of the game. You lose the game if your shields ever reach 0. You start with 20 shields, and they max out at 30.

Research Points

These points accrue to the board space where you gain them.
If you reach 10 research points, you immediately win the game.

Missile

Missiles launch in the column where they are triggered. If there are any opponent satellites in orbit in that column the missile will hit the satellite(s) and destroy them rather than doing damage to the opponent's shields. If there is no satellite in the way, the missile reduces the opponent's shields by the amount of damage the card does.

Damage

This is how much a card reduces a player's shields.

Gain

For Power Tokens, this means you get a new Power Token and may place it on any card in the action row or in either orbit row.
For Research Points, you get a new Research Point in the space where the card that is gaining the point is triggered.
For Shields, this means your Shield level increases.

Accumulate

This is similar to gaining a Power Token, but the token can only be placed on this card.

Transfer

You may move Power Tokens from one card to another. The instructions on the card will specify which cards are eligible for you to move Power Tokens from.

Spend

When you spend a Power Token, you remove it from play. Cards with this effect will specify which tokens are eligible to be spent.

Action Space

This is used to refer to a specific space in the action row. Once there are 6 cards in the action row, you can tell what space each card is in, but before that, the space that a card is in is fluid.

Orbit Space

orbit space refers to the static space in a player's orbit row that sits above the action space of the same number. This just means that orbit space 1 is above action space 1. And each player has their own orbit space 1 through 6.

Column

A column is comprised of an action space and both of the orbit spaces above it. Cards that refer to a column are referring to all of the contents of the action space and both orbit spaces. For example, if a card does Damage equal to all of the Power Tokens in column 3, you would sum the Power Tokens on Satellites in both players orbit space 3 plus any Power Tokens on the card in action space 3.

Retain

At the end of a round, you may hold a retained card to use in the next round. This does not impact how many cards you draw at the start of the next round.

Draw

Draw a card from your draw pile. If there are no cards in your draw pile, shuffle your discard pile into your draw pile and draw. If both are empty, nothing happens.

Select

When a card has an effect that operates directly on another card, this term is used to signify how you choose the card it will operate on. This is important, because some cards may protect others from being selected, and some cards could have an effect that is triggered by them being selected.
Any card that is selected, immediately spends half the Power Tokens (rounded up).

Launch

This is the standard action of every Satellite card when it is trigged in the action row. It needs to launch into orbit before its various Satellite effects begin to take effect.

Owner

When a satellite is in a player's orbit row, they are considered to the the owner of the satellite.

Stack

When more than one satellite is in the same orbit space, they are stacked with each other.

Power Token

You win the game immediately if you ever have 15 more Power Tokens than your opponent.
Power Tokens are always on a card.

Draft

Take 3 cards from the top of the draft deck, and choose 1 of them. Place it in your discard pile.

Discard

Put a card into your discard pile. During a round, some cards have effects that cause you to discard a card.
At the end of a round, all the cards in your hand that were not placed and all the cards still in the action row move to your discard pile.

Trash

Cards that are trashed during play are moved to a shared, face up trash pile. Certain cards in the game allow a player to get a card out of the trash, and both players' cards are moved to the same trash pile if they are trashed.

Downstream

The flow of the action row flows downstream. For example, space 2 is downstream of space 1.

Upstream

Opposite of downstream. A card upstream of another card is triggered before that card.

Next

The next space is the space immediately downstream. For example, space 4 is the next space after space 3.

Trigger

This is the term used to indicate that an effect happens. A placement effect is "triggered" when the card is placed. A card's action effect is "triggered" when it is that card's turn in the action sequence.

Alien Tech

This is a class of card that typically is used to manipulate the board or move other cards around in unusual ways.
These cards all have a "value" that is written on the card next to the Alien Tech symbol in the top right.

Draft Deck

This is the shared deck that both players draft cards from. Every time a player does a draft cycle, they do it from this deck, and the cards not chosen go next to it in a cycled deck.
If there is a situation where you go through the entire draft deck during your game, the cycled deck is shuffled, and it becomes the draft deck.

Orbit Row

Each player has an orbit row between them and the action row. This is where satellites are launched into.

Action Row

All cards are placed into the action row.
After there are 6 cards in the row, the action effect of each card is triggered in order starting from space 1 and moving downstream until reaching space 6.