Carte TCG Card Types and Zones Guide

Carte TCG Card Types and Zones Guide by delimiter

There are 7 card types in Carte. When you play a card, it will go into one of the zones in the play area and usually stay there. The exception is Magic cards, which go into the Grave after they are played.

The play area with zones labeled.

Hero

A Hero card in play.

Your Hero card is the leader of your deck and determines your deck’s nation. Playing a card of a nation other than your deck’s nation deals 1 damage to your Hero. When your Hero’s HP reaches zero, you lose the game. A Hero can attack, but usually won’t deal any damage unless affected by another card. All Hero cards have two or more skills, but a Hero can only use one skill per game. Your Hero card begins the game in the Hero zone.

Shard

A Force shard in the shard zone.

One Shard card per turn can be played into the Shard zone for an effect. At the beginning of your turn, if you already have a Shard in your Shard zone, it will be placed into your Mana zone. You can also place a Shard or any other card from your hand directly into your Mana zone, but you usually don’t get any of a card’s effects when you do so. You can either play a card into your Mana zone or play a Shard into your Shard zone each turn. You can’t do both, and you can’t do either action more than once each turn.

Creature

A Creature card.

Creatures cost mana to play, and are played into either the Attack zone or the Defense zone. Creatures in the Attack zone can attack your opponent’s creatures or Hero. Creatures in the Defense zone cannot attack, but can protect other creatures or your Hero from attacks.

Here, our creatures are in the Defense zone and can protect each other or our Hero. The opponent’s creatures are in their Attack Zone and can attack our Hero or any of our creatures.

Creatures have Attack Power (AP) to determine the amount of damage they deal and Hit Points (HP) to determine how much damage they can take before being destroyed. Many creatures also have skills that can be used, but generally a creature can only use one skill each turn.

Our Archer in the Defense zone is protecting our Flamefist Fighter in the Attack zone, which is being attacked by the opponent’s Skull Hound. Since our Archer has 2 AP, it can kill the Skull Hound, which has 2 HP. The Skull Hound’s 3 AP is more than enough to kill our Archer, which has 1 HP.

Item

An Item card. Note the blue arrow indicating it is currently being used on our Hero.

Items cost mana to play, and are played into the Item zone. Most items have one or more skills that you can activate. There are three types of items: Weapons, Armor, and Accessories. Generally, Weapons increase the AP of your Hero, Armor gives your Hero Shield Points that absorb damage, and Accessories have other effects, such as putting creatures into play. You can have up to three Item cards in your Item zone at any time.

Trap

A Trap card. Its position in the Trap zone is highlighted in white.

Traps cost a small amount of mana and are played face down in the Trap zone. You may view face down cards controlled by you or your team at any time. Usually, Traps have an effect that triggers when your opponent performs a certain action. Some Traps can instead be triggered at any time for an effect. You can have up to two Trap cards in your Trap zone at any time.

Magic

Our enemy is casting this Magic spell on our Royal Mage. We are displeased.

There are two varieties of Magic spells: Cast and Burst. You may only play Cast spells on your turn, but you may play Burst spells during either your turn or your opponent’s turn. Magic spells cost mana to play and appear above the Trap zone when you play them. When you play a Magic spell, its effect occurs once, then the spell card goes to your Grave zone.

Tarot

A Tarot card. Its position in the Tarot zone is highlighted in white.

At the beginning of the game, each player places a random Tarot card from their deck into their Tarot zone face down. The remaining Tarot cards are removed from the game. You may view face down cards controlled by you or your team at any time. Each Tarot card has one skill that can be played for a mana cost. A Tarot card’s skill always affects all players and can only be used once per game.

Mana Zone

Once per turn, you can play any card from your hand into your Mana zone. If you play a card into your Shard zone, you can’t play a card into your Mana zone that turn, but any cards in your Shard zone will go into your Mana zone at the beginning of your next turn. The number of cards in your Mana zone represents your maximum Mana. Any Mana you spend will be replenished up to your maximum Mana at the beginning of each of your turns. Some effects allow you to temporarily have more Mana than your maximum.

Grave Zone

When a card is destroyed by a game effect or discarded from your hand, it goes to your Grave zone. You can click on a card you own and choose “Grave” to send it to the Grave zone at any time, unless the card specifies otherwise. You can click on any player’s Grave zone to view all cards in that zone.

Deck Zone

This zone contains your deck of cards. You draw one card at the beginning of each turn. The number of cards remaining in your deck is shown here. If you run out of cards in your deck, you lose the game.

Hand Zone

Cards in your hand are the cards you have available to play. You start the game with 7 cards in your hand and you draw one card from your deck each turn. The maximum hand size in Carte is 9. If you ever have 10 or more cards in your hand, you must immediately discard cards until you have 9 cards in your hand.

Sweet victory!