A tarot-forged TCG built on six card types and four suits, where six Aspects stand between you and defeat. Fast 7–10 turn matches. No infinite loops. No auto-wins.
The Ratty Arcana is a 1v1 trading card game where you build a 50-card deck from your personal collection and select 6 Aspects to serve as your board presence. Aspects are your conduits — they shape your damage, absorb hits, and channel healing. When they dissolve, they are gone.
Cards are split into six distinct layers: Pips for combat, Courts for spike plays, Majors for fate-altering moments, Utility for micro-tools, Orbs for resources, and Primordials for global climate effects. Every layer has a role. No layer replaces another.
Each player owns the full 142-card set and builds from it independently. Your Main Deck is exactly 50 cards — locked composition, no mulligans. The draw is the draw.
10 Pips · 4 Courts · 5 Majors · 15 Orbs · 16 Utility — no variation, no mulligan, no reshuffle on deck-out.
Choose any 6 from the 20 available Aspects (10 Demons, 10 Mystics).
Choose 1 from 10 variants. Held in the Primordial Chamber — not part of your deck.
Your 6 Aspects are your board presence. They do not attack automatically — they shape the outcomes of the cards you play through them. At game start, shuffle your Aspect Deck, reveal the top 3 to the Altar, and flip simultaneously. The first revealed becomes Active. The next two are Passive.
Damage stops immediately. You choose which Passive promotes to Active — instant, no delay. Draw top Aspect from deck to fill the empty Passive slot. Newly drawn Passive cannot become Active that same turn.
When an Aspect dissolves it leaves permanently — unless a Major Arcana card resurrects it. Stats reset on resurrection. No lingering effects carry over. After all 6 dissolve, you lose.
Modifies outgoing damage from Pips and Courts when this Aspect is Active.
Reduces incoming damage when this Aspect is Active. High Guard Aspects absorb pressure.
Modifies healing received. Always applies regardless of Active status. Mystics skew heavily toward Flow.
When you play a Pip or Court, damage resolves immediately through your Active Aspect. The formula is clean — base damage modified by Power and Guard. Minimum damage is always 0. Aspects dissolve immediately when HP reaches 0 or below. No spillover. No carryover damage.
Orbs are cards in your deck, not automatic energy. You draw them, attach them to Pips or Courts to pay costs, and spend them — they go to discard. No automatic regeneration. 15 Orbs in every deck, fixed.
All Orbs 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 how many Orbs match. The Ace card has no cap.
High-impact damage. Fast pressure. Rewards going wide and burning hot.
Sustain, recovery, and card flow. Plays the long game.
Defensive positioning. Builds resource leads. Rewards patience.
Cuts opponent resources. Denies options. Punishes greed.
Each player selects 1 Primordial from the 10 available (5 Maharat variants, 5 Adirat variants) and places it face-down in their Primordial Chamber — separate from their 50-card deck.
At the start of the match, the player going second reveals their Primordial, making it the active Realm. While active, a Primordial effect applies universally to both players. Only one Primordial can be active at a time.
The Primordial of expansion and entropy. Each variant imposes a Realm law that pushes the match toward escalation, motion, and growth.
The Primordial of balance and restraint. Each variant bends the match toward equilibrium, restriction, and control of momentum.
Turns are clean and fast. There is no separate attack phase — combat is card play. Unlimited Utility and Pip/Court plays per turn, limited by Orb availability. One Major Arcana per turn. One Primordial swap per turn.
Resolve any active Primordial start-of-turn effects. Draw 1 card from your Main Deck. If your deck is empty and you must draw, Last Wish triggers.
Play unlimited Utility cards (no Orb cost). Play unlimited Pips and Courts by attaching Orbs. Play 1 Major Arcana if desired. Replace the active Primordial once if desired.
Resolve any active Primordial end-of-turn effects. Pass to opponent.
When your Main Deck is empty and you must draw, you invoke the Last Wish — once, per game, per player. Your opponent chooses which card you get from a face-down arrangement of your discard.
Shuffle your discard pile and place it face-down.
Your opponent selects one face-down card without seeing it.
Reveal it. That card becomes your draw for the turn.
Your discard pile remains unchanged. No new deck was created.
If you must draw again from an empty deck — immediate loss. No second wish. No mercy.
Two paths to loss. One path to victory: be the last player standing.
When every Aspect in your Aspect Deck and on the Altar has entered the Dissolution Realm, you lose. No resurrection without a Major Arcana.
If you must draw from an empty Main Deck after your Last Wish is spent, the game ends immediately. No reshuffle. No second chance.
The Ratty Arcana is designed around finite resources, permanent consequences, and skill-based pressure. No infinite loops. No auto-win combos. No hand reloads without card effects. Deck-out is real. Aspect death is real. Every decision compounds.
The primary damage engine. Tarot-driven identity. Scales with Orbs and Resonance.
High-cost, high-impact. One of each rank per deck. No duplicates.
Macro effects. One per turn. The moment the board shifts in ways Pips cannot.
Micro effects. Unlimited per turn. No Orb cost. Small but precise.
Global modifiers that reshape what strategies thrive. Environment, not direct damage.
Your board. Your stats. Your conduit. Permanent loss when they fall.
The game is in active development. Follow along for playtesting info, card reveals, and updates.