The Ratty Arcana is a 1v1 trading card game where you build a 50-card deck from a shared 142-card collection and choose 6 Aspects as your board presence. Aspects are your conduits , they shape damage, absorb hits, and channel healing. When they dissolve, they are gone permanently.
Every card type has a distinct role. None of them replace each other. The game is built around finite resources, permanent consequences, and decisions that compound every turn.
Every player draws from the same 142-card Prima Materia set. The collection is fixed , you do not build from scratch. You make choices within it.
Your Main Deck is exactly 50 cards. The composition is locked , your choices happen within the structure, not around it. You draw 7 cards to open. No mulligans. The draw is the draw.
14 Minor Arcana · 5 Major Arcana · 16 Orbs · 15 Utility
For Minor Arcana: choose one card per rank (Ace through King) from any suit , singleton, no duplicates. Orbs may be any mix of the four types.
Choose any 6 from the 20 available Aspects. All must be different.
Choose 1 from the 10 variants. Held face-down in the Primordial Chamber. Not part of your 50-card deck.
Your 6 Aspects are your board presence. They do not attack , they shape what your cards do. At game start, shuffle your Aspect Deck and place the top 3 face-up on the Altar in a fixed layout: Passive, Active, Passive. The Active Aspect is your conduit. Passives apply their continuous abilities but cannot be directly targeted for damage.
Damage stops immediately. You choose which Passive promotes to Active , your choice, instant, no delay. The top card of your Aspect Deck enters the empty Passive slot. A newly drawn Passive cannot become Active on the same turn it arrives.
A dissolved Aspect is gone unless a Major Arcana resurrects it. Stats reset on resurrection. No lingering effects. When all 6 have dissolved, you lose.
Modifies outgoing damage from Pips and Courts when this Aspect is Active. Demons skew high here.
Reduces incoming damage when this Aspect is Active. High Guard Aspects absorb sustained pressure.
Modifies healing received. Applies regardless of Active or Passive status. Mystics skew heavily here.
When you play a Pip or Court, damage resolves immediately through your Active Aspect against your opponent's Active Aspect. The formula is clean. Minimum damage is always 0. An Aspect dissolves the moment its HP hits 0 , no spillover, no carryover.
Orbs are cards in your deck, not automatic energy. You draw them, attach them to Pips or Courts to pay costs, and spend them to discard. No automatic regeneration. Every deck runs exactly 16 Orbs , the only fixed number in the game.
Any Orb can pay any cost. But match the Orb element to the suit of the card you are playing and you trigger Resonance , a bonus effect that scales with the number of matching Orbs spent. The Ace of each suit has no Resonance cap.
High-impact damage. Fast pressure. Rewards burning hot and going wide.
Healing, card flow, and recovery. Built to play the long game.
Cuts opponent resources. Denies options. Punishes greed and overextension.
Defensive positioning. Builds resource advantages. Rewards patience.
Before the match begins, both players select a Primordial and place it face-down in their Primordial Chamber. At match start, both players reveal simultaneously. Player 2 then chooses which Primordial becomes the active Realm. The unchosen Primordial goes face-down to the bottom of its owner's Main Deck.
While a Primordial is active, its Realm law applies equally to both players. Only one Primordial can be active at a time. A player may replace the active Primordial once per turn , playing the Primordial from hand sends the opponent's active one to discard.
The God King, 5 variants. Each imposes a Realm law that drives the match toward escalation, forward pressure, and growth. Favors aggressive strategies.
The God Queen, 5 variants. Each bends the match toward equilibrium, restriction, and control of momentum. Favors patient and defensive strategies.
First player is determined by the Oracle Die , each player rolls a six-sided die, higher roll goes first, ties re-roll. Turns are clean and fast. There is no separate attack phase. Combat is card play. The only hard limits per turn are one Major Arcana and one Primordial swap.
Resolve any active Primordial start-of-turn effects. Draw 1 card from your Main Deck. If your deck is empty and you must draw, the Last Wish triggers.
Play any number of Utility cards , no Orb cost, no limit. Play any number of Pips and Courts by attaching Orbs to pay their cost. Play one Major Arcana if desired. Swap the active Primordial once if desired.
Resolve any active Primordial end-of-turn effects. Pass to opponent.
Each player has a 15-minute personal time bank. The clock runs only on your turns. If your clock expires, your opponent wins. Manage your time as carefully as your resources.
When your Main Deck is empty and you must draw, you invoke the Last Wish. It can only happen once per player per game. Your opponent decides what you get , from your own discard.
Shuffle your discard pile and place it face-down on the table.
Your opponent selects one card from the face-down pile without seeing it.
Reveal it. That card is your draw for this turn.
The remaining discard pile stays as-is. Nothing is reshuffled into a new deck.
If you must draw again from an empty deck after the Last Wish is spent , immediate loss. No second wish. No mercy.
Three paths to loss. One path to victory.
When every Aspect on your Altar and in your Aspect Deck has dissolved, you lose. Resurrection via Major Arcana is the only reprieve.
If you must draw from an empty Main Deck after your Last Wish is spent, the game ends immediately. No reshuffle. No second chance.
If your 15-minute personal time bank runs out, your opponent wins. Time is a resource. Spend it accordingly.
The Ratty Arcana is designed around three principles: finite resources, permanent consequences, and compounding decisions. There are no infinite loops, no auto-win combos, no hand reloads without paying for them. Deck-out is real. Aspect death is real. The clock is real. Every turn matters because nothing resets.
Tarot-rooted damage engine. Scales with Orbs and Resonance. The core of every archetype.
One per rank per deck, no duplicates. High cost, high impact. The decisive moments.
One per turn. The macro plays , resurrection, resource shifts, board reversals.
Unlimited plays, no Orb cost. Small effects, precise timing. The texture of every turn.
Global Realm laws that reshape the match environment. Not damage , conditions.
Your board, your stats, your conduit. They die permanently. Build accordingly.
The full 142-card Prima Materia set is in progress. Browse revealed cards, read effects, and follow along as the collection grows.