IACTA TCG OFFICIAL RULES REFERENCE DOCUMENT

100. General Principles

101. Golden Rules

101.1 Cards may break any of the game rules with their text. For example, a card may say that it is not able to be responded to. That card would play otherwise as normal, but no player would be able to respond to it.

101.2 If two continuous effects alter the rules in competing ways, the one played most recently takes precedence.

101.3 If an effect states that something cannot happen or is forbidden, that restriction takes absolute precedence over any effect allowing, granting, or directing it to happen regardless of which card was played most recently. (If an opponent’s card forbids you from taking the Cycle action, and you play a card that allows you to make an extra Cycle action this turn, you still cannot make that action.)

101.4 The official rules text, cost, and classification of any card is defined by its most recent physical printing or its listing in the most up-to-date official publication or card revision document (which is considered its ‘revised text’). Older printings of a card remain completely legal for play, but are treated as though they are printed with their most recent official text. Disregard completely any outdated wording, costs, or typos printed on older physical copies. For updated card text, check the Card Gallery at https://iacta-tcg.pages.dev/cardgallery.

102. Modified Values

102.1 When multiple effects modify a numerical value (such as a die's face, dice costs, number of cards drawn, or dice rolled), calculate the final value in this order:

102.1a Start with the face value (or any effect that sets it to a specific number, like "treat as a 6" or "costs exactly 2"). If multiple effects set a specific number, the most recently played effect takes precedence.

102.1b Apply all plus and minus modifiers (e.g., "+1 to value").

102.1c Apply any minimums, maximums, or caps. (Unless an effect explicitly states otherwise, dice values cannot be lower than 1, and die costs cannot be reduced below 0, nor can a card have fewer than zero dice in its dice cost.)

102.2 If a die has a value higher than six, it may still be used as part of combos when Flushed. It may also still be used to pay for costs requiring values that are met by its value, such as costs with only a minimum requirement, or costs requiring an even or odd value.

103. Losing and Removal from Play

103.1 A player who loses during the game is considered removed from play. All of their areas of play are also removed from play after returning any cards that started in the Decks of other players to those players’ Discard Piles.

104. Bypassing the Effect Resolution Area

104.1 Certain game functions bypass the Effect Resolution Area entirely and cannot be responded to.

104.2 Instant Resolutions, which are enforced immediately and automatically by the game engine before any player may declare an action, pay a cost, or receive priority. These include:

104.2a Initiating the end-of-game Cash Out sequence when a player meets the conditions of Win Condition B.

104.2b Dice placement in a Reserve or Register, or cards in Hand made illegal by active card effects (excess dice are immediately returned to the Supply, excess cards are discarded).

104.2c The discarding effect of the NAMESAKE Ability Word.

104.2d Initiating a win by declaring Iacta.

104.3 Abilities of face-up cards that state how the board is treated do not use the Effect Resolution Area. They are persistent rules of the game environment that apply continuously.

104.4 Substitution Effects (effects that alter an outcome using the word "instead" such as Noodle Cup) are not Instant Resolutions. They intercept and modify an action, cost, or value at the exact moment it occurs, without opening a response window.

200. Deck Construction

201. Deck Limits

201.1 A starting Deck may have no more than sixty cards, no fewer than forty, and no more than four of any one card unless the rules text of that card says otherwise.

201.1a A starting Deck is the Deck which is brought to a game before any cards have been drawn.

201.2 Cards which are foiled or have different arts are still counted toward the same total.

202. Syndicates and Splash Cards

202.1 A starting Deck must designate exactly one Major Syndicate and may contain any number of cards belonging to that Syndicate.

202.2 A starting Deck may contain any number of Neutral cards.

202.3 A starting Deck may contain up to one Splash Card for every five cards it contains, and all Splash Cards must belong to a single chosen Minor or Major Syndicate. For forty cards, eight cards may be Splash Cards. For sixty, twelve may be.

203. Legality

203.1 If a player is found during play to have broken any of these rules, they lose on the spot.

300. Areas of Play and The Tableau

301. General

301.1 The play areas are as follows: the Deck, the Hand, the Discard Pile, the Effect Resolution Area, the Register, the Reserve, the Supply, and the Backline. Each player has a Deck, a Hand, a Discard Pile, three Registers, a Reserve, and a Backline. The Effect Resolution Area and Supply are shared between all players.

301.2 If a play area would be discarded, all cards or dice in it are discarded instead. If it would be removed from play, all cards or dice in it are removed from play as well.

301.3 “Removed from play” is not a play area. A card that is removed from play is no longer in any play area and does not count as discarded. Any effects that affect or track a card in “any play area” do not affect or track cards that have been removed from play.

301.3a Cards which are removed from play are not considered “in your collection.”

301.4 The number of cards in a player's Hand and Deck, and the face value of dice in their Reserve and Registers, are public knowledge. Discard Piles are face-up and any player may examine them at any time. Face-down Backline cards are private information, and may only be examined by the player whose Backline they are in unless an effect permits otherwise.

400. Game Actions

401. Drawing

401.1 To draw a card, put it into your Hand from the top of your Deck. A card is drawn once it has entered your Hand.

401.2 If you would draw more cards than you have left in your Deck, simply draw as many as you are able to.

402. Discarding

402.1 To discard a card, put it into its owner's Discard Pile from the play area specified. An effect may tell you to discard a card from any play area. To discard a die, put it back into the Supply.

403. Choosing

403.1 When a card or effect requires you to "choose" something, you must make that choice at the time the action is Declared, placing it into the Effect Resolution Area. All players must know what is being chosen before they decide whether to respond.

403.2 If a choice is part of an effect that reads "If you do...", "When you do...", or involves looking at hidden information (such as drawing or revealing cards), that choice is not made upon Declaration. Instead, the choice is made during resolution, exactly when that part of the card's text occurs.

403.3 An action or card that requires a mandatory choice cannot be declared if no legal object to choose exists.

403.4 When an action is declared in a game with more than two players, priority to respond passes in turn order, starting with the player to the left of the active player.

500. The Effect Resolution Area

501. General Rules

501.1 The Effect Resolution Area is a physical area of play. Event Cards, triggered Trap Cards, declared variable actions, and activated and triggered effects of Perpetual Cards use the Effect Resolution Area to occur. Continuous effects (such as rules defining how dice are treated) and replacement effects (such as cards that modify banked points using "instead") never use the Effect Resolution Area, and apply immediately and passively.

501.2 If a card is discarded or moved to another area of play before its effect occurs, its effect may no longer occur. If a Perpetual Card is discarded or removed from play before an activated or triggered effect it owns in the Effect Resolution Area occurs, that effect may no longer occur.

501.3 When an activated or triggered effect of a Perpetual Card enters the Effect Resolution Area, the physical card remains in its Backline slot while its effect enters the area. Trap Cards may still be chosen as though they were in the Backline while they are in the Effect Resolution Area.

501.4 Event Cards may not be chosen as though they were in the Hand while they are in the Effect Resolution Area. Cards and effects that may discard them from the Effect Resolution Area will say so specifically, and must be declared before effects begin to occur.

501.5 Once a card's or effect's occurrence is complete, it leaves the Effect Resolution Area. If a card was placed into the Effect Resolution Area to be played or deployed to the Backline, it moves to its Backline slot once it occurs. Event Cards and resolved Trap Cards are discarded to their owner's Discard Pile unless their text states otherwise.

501.6 A Perpetual Card retains its passive effects while in play, and they continue to affect the game even while an activated or triggered effect it owns is in the Effect Resolution Area.

502. Triggers

502.1 If an effect or event occurs mid-resolution that meets the trigger condition of a Trap or Perpetual Card, that card (or its effect) is not immediately placed into the Effect Resolution Area. Instead, it becomes Pending. Once the Effect Resolution Area is completely empty, all Pending effects (along with any Pending Traps their owners choose to declare) are placed into the Effect Resolution Area in turn order, starting with the active player. If a player has multiple effects, they choose the order in which they are placed. Players may then declare responses normally before effects begin to occur.

502.2 If something happens in the game while effects are occurring that would trigger a triggered effect of the same Perpetual Card multiple times, that effect is placed into the Effect Resolution Area only once. When it is the top effect in the Effect Resolution Area, its effect occurs that many times in sequence. If the Perpetual Card is discarded as part of one of these instances occurring, no further instances may occur.

503. Cancellations and Impossible Actions

503.1 What it means for an effect or action to be cancelled depends on what is being cancelled. If an activated or triggered effect of a Perpetual Card is cancelled, it is removed from the Effect Resolution Area as though it had occurred, and the Perpetual Card itself is not discarded. If the effect of an Event or Trap Card is cancelled, that card is discarded. If an action is cancelled, it does not occur. When something is cancelled, its costs are not refunded.

503.2 If the Deploy action or reveal action of a card is cancelled, the card is not turned face up, and its effects do not activate. It is not discarded.

503.3 If a variable action is cancelled, the player who made it is still considered to have made the action, and may not make that action again in that turn unless the effect of another card allows them to.

503.4 If a card play action is cancelled, the card returns to its owner’s Hand. Their card play action is not refunded.

503.5 If an effect is impossible to resolve fully, it occurs as much as is possible. For example, if an effect would have you place three dice into your Registers, and you have only one slot open, you place only one of those dice into your Registers, and the others remain where they are.

900. Tournament & Organized Play

901. General

901.1 Tournament and organized competitive play follow all baseline rules of Iacta, subject to the following modifications, procedures, and enforcement criteria.

902. The Sideboard

902.1 In Tournament Play, a player may register a Sideboard of up to 10 cards alongside their Deck. Cards in the Sideboard count toward the four of a kind limit. Players may swap out as many cards from their Deck as they wish with cards from their Sideboard after any game.

902.2 The modified Deck must remain fully legal under all rules in Section 200, including the 40-to-60 card limit, the 1-per-5 Splash Card limit, and containing cards from at most one legal Major and one legal Minor Syndicate. (Cards from other Syndicates may remain in the Sideboard).

902.3 The Sideboard must always contain the exact same number of cards between games.

902.4 Between games of a match (beginning after Game 1), players may swap cards between their Deck and Sideboard on a strict one-for-one basis.

902.5 At the start of each new match against a new opponent, players must return their Deck and Sideboard to their original registered configurations.

903. Sleeving and Card Condition

903.1 If a player chooses to sleeve their cards, all cards in the main Deck, Sideboard, and any potential cards that could be introduced during play must be sleeved in identical, indistinguishable, opaque sleeves in clean, tournament-legal condition, and must all be sleeved in the same number of either one or two sleeves. If a player does not choose to sleeve their cards, all of their cards must be in Mint or Near Mint condition, and may not have any easily identifiable marks or damage. Unsleeved decks must also not contain Foiled cards.

903.1a Sleeves are considered in tournament-legal condition if they are completely free of distinct markings, excessive wear, grease, creases, peeling, or other identifying characteristics that could distinguish individual cards. A Tournament Official or Judge has final authority on whether a player's sleeves meet this standard.

903.1b If a sleeve is found to have become non-tournament-legal during play, it must immediately be replaced with an identical tournament-legal sleeve. If an identical spare sleeve is not available, the player must resleeve their entire Deck and Sideboard into a fresh set of legal sleeves, or desleeve the entire Deck if all cards meet the unsleeved criteria in 903.1. The player is granted a reasonable timeframe (up to 10 minutes) to acquire replacements; failure to present a legal deck results in a Game Loss. If the card requiring resleeving is currently hidden information (such as inside a Deck), a Tournament Official or Judge must resleeve the card without revealing its face to either player, maintaining its exact position in that zone. A Tournament Official will grant a match time extension equal to the time taken to resolve the issue.

903.1c Sleeves displaying vulgarity, hate speech, symbols associated with hate groups, or sexually explicit, suggestive, or graphic imagery are strictly prohibited. Sleeves violating this rule must immediately be replaced following the procedure in 903.1b. Displaying hate speech or symbols associated with hate groups additionally results in an immediate Disqualification under Section 906.

903.2 If a card or effect instructs a player to choose or add a card from "in their collection", that card must be pre-sleeved in an identical sleeve before entering the player's Hand. Cards in a player's collection must be kept in a closed deckbox or binder separate from the playing surface until an effect instructs the player to search them. At the conclusion of the game, any cards introduced from a collection must be removed from all play areas and returned to the player's collection before Sideboarding or resetting.

904. Pace of Play

904.1 Players are expected to maintain an active, reasonable pace of play throughout all phases. Outside of complex response chains, a player should take no more than 30 to 45 seconds to declare and resolve any standard action or response. Taking excessive time without advancing the game state constitutes Slow Play.

904.2 When a card or effect instructs a player to search their Deck, Discard Pile, or collection, the player has a maximum time limit of one minute to examine the cards, make their selection, and reveal or declare their chosen card(s).

904.3 Physical shuffling, cutting, presenting the Deck to an opponent, and paying associated card costs are not counted against the one-minute search limit, but must be executed in a timely, continuous manner.

904.4 In judged matches, a Tournament Official or Judge may issue an immediate Slow Play Warning to any player who exceeds these limits.

904.5 In matches without a dedicated table judge, an opponent may notify the player once one minute has elapsed. If the search is not concluded within an additional 15 seconds, the opponent may pause play and summon a Tournament Official to issue a Slow Play Warning and oversee the remainder of the action.

904.6 If a player continues to take excessive time after receiving a warning during a search, an additional Slow Play Warning may be issued for each subsequent minute taken.

905. Penalty Escalation & Forfeiture

905.1 If a player receives three Slow Play Warnings within a single game, that player immediately forfeits that game (recorded as a Game Loss).

905.2 If a player receives five cumulative Slow Play Warnings or one warning for Unsporting Conduct across a single match, that player immediately forfeits the match (recorded as a Match Loss) and is eliminated from that round of play.

905.3 Forfeitures caused by penalty escalation resolve according to Win Condition C (Forfeit).

906. Unsporting Conduct

906.1 There are a number of offenses that are considered Unsporting Conduct. Any player committing these infractions receives an immediate Disqualification (DQ) without prize eligibility and must immediately leave the tournament venue:

906.2 If a Tournament Official determines that a player is intentionally delaying the game to run out the match timer.

906.3 If a player uses abusive, derogatory, harassing, or profane language directed at an opponent, spectator, or Tournament Official.

906.4 If a player assaults anyone in the Tournament Area.

906.5 If a player is definitively found to be cheating, including moving or altering dice when the game does not tell them to, moving cards between zones arbitrarily, or failing to appropriately pay costs for cards or effects.

906.6 If a player is found to have stolen or intentionally damaged something belonging to another attendee.

906.7 Players are required to demonstrate basic sporting mutual respect at the start and conclusion of every match.

906.7a Players must acknowledge each other prior to Game 1 (such as via a verbal greeting, handshake, fist bump, nod, or bow).

906.7b Upon the completion of the match and the signing of the match record, players must acknowledge the conclusion of the contest.

906.7c Physical contact is never mandatory; a simple verbal acknowledgment or bow is fully sufficient. However, an overt refusal to acknowledge an opponent when greeted, ignoring an offered non-contact acknowledgment, or departing with hostile contempt constitutes Unsporting Conduct.

906.8 Hygiene & Attire: All tournament attendees are expected to maintain personal cleanliness. If a player’s personal hygiene, bodily odor, or excessively soiled clothing creates an active, significant disruption to their opponent or the tournament space, a Tournament Official may instruct the player to remedy the issue within a reasonable timeframe. Failure or refusal to do so will result in a Match Loss and Disqualification under Unsporting Conduct.

907. Player Responsibilities and Triggers

907.1 Each player is solely responsible for announcing and resolving their own card effects and triggers. Opponents are under no obligation to remind a player of their triggers or assist them in tracking their game state.

907.2 If a player passes the timing window of an optional trigger without declaring it, that player is considered to have chosen not to use the effect.

907.3 Mandatory Triggers: If a player fails to resolve a mandatory trigger or maintenance step:

907.3a If caught immediately, the trigger resolves as completely as possible before play continues.

907.3b If the game state has substantially advanced, a Tournament Official or Judge may issue a Rule Violation Warning to the player responsible for the missed trigger.

907.3c Accumulating three Rule Violation Warnings in a match results in an immediate Match Loss, as outlined in Section 905.2.

907.4 If a Tournament Official determines that a player intentionally ignored or hid a mandatory trigger to gain an advantage or avoid a penalty, that player is immediately disqualified for Cheating under Section 906.5.

IACTA TCG OFFICIAL RULES REFERENCE DOCUMENT

100. General Principles

101. Golden Rules

101.1 Cards may break any of the game rules with their text. For example, a card may say that it is not able to be responded to. That card would play otherwise as normal, but no player would be able to respond to it.

101.2 If two continuous effects alter the rules in competing ways, the one played most recently takes precedence.

101.3 If an effect states that something cannot happen or is forbidden, that restriction takes absolute precedence over any effect allowing, granting, or directing it to happen regardless of which card was played most recently. (If an opponent’s card forbids you from taking the Cycle action, and you play a card that allows you to make an extra Cycle action this turn, you still cannot make that action.)

101.4 The official rules text, cost, and classification of any card is defined by its most recent physical printing or its listing in the most up-to-date official publication or card revision document (which is considered its ‘revised text’). Older printings of a card remain completely legal for play, but are treated as though they are printed with their most recent official text. Disregard completely any outdated wording, costs, or typos printed on older physical copies. For updated card text, check the Card Gallery at https://iacta-tcg.pages.dev/cardgallery.

102. Modified Values

102.1 When multiple effects modify a numerical value (such as a die's face, dice costs, number of cards drawn, or dice rolled), calculate the final value in this order:

102.1a Start with the face value (or any effect that sets it to a specific number, like "treat as a 6" or "costs exactly 2"). If multiple effects set a specific number, the most recently played effect takes precedence.

102.1b Apply all plus and minus modifiers (e.g., "+1 to value").

102.1c Apply any minimums, maximums, or caps. (Unless an effect explicitly states otherwise, dice values cannot be lower than 1, and die costs cannot be reduced below 0, nor can a card have fewer than zero dice in its dice cost.)

102.2 If a die has a value higher than six, it may still be used as part of combos when Flushed. It may also still be used to pay for costs requiring values that are met by its value, such as costs with only a minimum requirement, or costs requiring an even or odd value.

103. Losing and Removal from Play

103.1 A player who loses during the game is considered removed from play. All of their areas of play are also removed from play after returning any cards that started in the Decks of other players to those players’ Discard Piles.

104. Bypassing the Effect Resolution Area

104.1 Certain game functions bypass the Effect Resolution Area entirely and cannot be responded to.

104.2 Instant Resolutions, which are enforced immediately and automatically by the game engine before any player may declare an action, pay a cost, or receive priority. These include:

104.2a Initiating the end-of-game Cash Out sequence when a player meets the conditions of Win Condition B.

104.2b Dice placement in a Reserve or Register, or cards in Hand made illegal by active card effects (excess dice are immediately returned to the Supply, excess cards are discarded).

104.2c The discarding effect of the NAMESAKE Ability Word.

104.2d Initiating a win by declaring Iacta.

104.3 Abilities of face-up cards that state how the board is treated do not use the Effect Resolution Area. They are persistent rules of the game environment that apply continuously.

104.4 Substitution Effects (effects that alter an outcome using the word "instead" such as Noodle Cup) are not Instant Resolutions. They intercept and modify an action, cost, or value at the exact moment it occurs, without opening a response window.

200. Deck Construction

201. Deck Limits

201.1 A starting Deck may have no more than sixty cards, no fewer than forty, and no more than four of any one card unless the rules text of that card says otherwise.

201.1a A starting Deck is the Deck which is brought to a game before any cards have been drawn.

201.2 Cards which are foiled or have different arts are still counted toward the same total.

202. Syndicates and Splash Cards

202.1 A starting Deck must designate exactly one Major Syndicate and may contain any number of cards belonging to that Syndicate.

202.2 A starting Deck may contain any number of Neutral cards.

202.3 A starting Deck may contain up to one Splash Card for every five cards it contains, and all Splash Cards must belong to a single chosen Minor or Major Syndicate. For forty cards, eight cards may be Splash Cards. For sixty, twelve may be.

203. Legality

203.1 If a player is found during play to have broken any of these rules, they lose on the spot.

300. Areas of Play and The Tableau

301. General

301.1 The play areas are as follows: the Deck, the Hand, the Discard Pile, the Effect Resolution Area, the Register, the Reserve, the Supply, and the Backline. Each player has a Deck, a Hand, a Discard Pile, three Registers, a Reserve, and a Backline. The Effect Resolution Area and Supply are shared between all players.

301.2 If a play area would be discarded, all cards or dice in it are discarded instead. If it would be removed from play, all cards or dice in it are removed from play as well.

301.3 “Removed from play” is not a play area. A card that is removed from play is no longer in any play area and does not count as discarded. Any effects that affect or track a card in “any play area” do not affect or track cards that have been removed from play.

301.3a Cards which are removed from play are not considered “in your collection.”

301.4 The number of cards in a player's Hand and Deck, and the face value of dice in their Reserve and Registers, are public knowledge. Discard Piles are face-up and any player may examine them at any time. Face-down Backline cards are private information, and may only be examined by the player whose Backline they are in unless an effect permits otherwise.

400. Game Actions

401. Drawing

401.1 To draw a card, put it into your Hand from the top of your Deck. A card is drawn once it has entered your Hand.

401.2 If you would draw more cards than you have left in your Deck, simply draw as many as you are able to.

402. Discarding

402.1 To discard a card, put it into its owner's Discard Pile from the play area specified. An effect may tell you to discard a card from any play area. To discard a die, put it back into the Supply.

403. Choosing

403.1 When a card or effect requires you to "choose" something, you must make that choice at the time the action is Declared, placing it into the Effect Resolution Area. All players must know what is being chosen before they decide whether to respond.

403.2 If a choice is part of an effect that reads "If you do...", "When you do...", or involves looking at hidden information (such as drawing or revealing cards), that choice is not made upon Declaration. Instead, the choice is made during resolution, exactly when that part of the card's text occurs.

403.3 An action or card that requires a mandatory choice cannot be declared if no legal object to choose exists.

403.4 When an action is declared in a game with more than two players, priority to respond passes in turn order, starting with the player to the left of the active player.

500. The Effect Resolution Area

501. General Rules

501.1 The Effect Resolution Area is a physical area of play. Event Cards, triggered Trap Cards, declared variable actions, and activated and triggered effects of Perpetual Cards use the Effect Resolution Area to occur. Continuous effects (such as rules defining how dice are treated) and replacement effects (such as cards that modify banked points using "instead") never use the Effect Resolution Area, and apply immediately and passively.

501.2 If a card is discarded or moved to another area of play before its effect occurs, its effect may no longer occur. If a Perpetual Card is discarded or removed from play before an activated or triggered effect it owns in the Effect Resolution Area occurs, that effect may no longer occur.

501.3 When an activated or triggered effect of a Perpetual Card enters the Effect Resolution Area, the physical card remains in its Backline slot while its effect enters the area. Trap Cards may still be chosen as though they were in the Backline while they are in the Effect Resolution Area.

501.4 Event Cards may not be chosen as though they were in the Hand while they are in the Effect Resolution Area. Cards and effects that may discard them from the Effect Resolution Area will say so specifically, and must be declared before effects begin to occur.

501.5 Once a card's or effect's occurrence is complete, it leaves the Effect Resolution Area. If a card was placed into the Effect Resolution Area to be played or deployed to the Backline, it moves to its Backline slot once it occurs. Event Cards and resolved Trap Cards are discarded to their owner's Discard Pile unless their text states otherwise.

501.6 A Perpetual Card retains its passive effects while in play, and they continue to affect the game even while an activated or triggered effect it owns is in the Effect Resolution Area.

502. Triggers

502.1 If an effect or event occurs mid-resolution that meets the trigger condition of a Trap or Perpetual Card, that card (or its effect) is not immediately placed into the Effect Resolution Area. Instead, it becomes Pending. Once the Effect Resolution Area is completely empty, all Pending effects (along with any Pending Traps their owners choose to declare) are placed into the Effect Resolution Area in turn order, starting with the active player. If a player has multiple effects, they choose the order in which they are placed. Players may then declare responses normally before effects begin to occur.

502.2 If something happens in the game while effects are occurring that would trigger a triggered effect of the same Perpetual Card multiple times, that effect is placed into the Effect Resolution Area only once. When it is the top effect in the Effect Resolution Area, its effect occurs that many times in sequence. If the Perpetual Card is discarded as part of one of these instances occurring, no further instances may occur.

503. Cancellations and Impossible Actions

503.1 What it means for an effect or action to be cancelled depends on what is being cancelled. If an activated or triggered effect of a Perpetual Card is cancelled, it is removed from the Effect Resolution Area as though it had occurred, and the Perpetual Card itself is not discarded. If the effect of an Event or Trap Card is cancelled, that card is discarded. If an action is cancelled, it does not occur. When something is cancelled, its costs are not refunded.

503.2 If the Deploy action or reveal action of a card is cancelled, the card is not turned face up, and its effects do not activate. It is not discarded.

503.3 If a variable action is cancelled, the player who made it is still considered to have made the action, and may not make that action again in that turn unless the effect of another card allows them to.

503.4 If a card play action is cancelled, the card returns to its owner’s Hand. Their card play action is not refunded.

503.5 If an effect is impossible to resolve fully, it occurs as much as is possible. For example, if an effect would have you place three dice into your Registers, and you have only one slot open, you place only one of those dice into your Registers, and the others remain where they are.

900. Tournament & Organized Play

901. General

901.1 Tournament and organized competitive play follow all baseline rules of Iacta, subject to the following modifications, procedures, and enforcement criteria.

902. The Sideboard

902.1 In Tournament Play, a player may register a Sideboard of up to 10 cards alongside their Deck. Cards in the Sideboard count toward the four of a kind limit. Players may swap out as many cards from their Deck as they wish with cards from their Sideboard after any game.

902.2 The modified Deck must remain fully legal under all rules in Section 200, including the 40-to-60 card limit, the 1-per-5 Splash Card limit, and containing cards from at most one legal Major and one legal Minor Syndicate. (Cards from other Syndicates may remain in the Sideboard).

902.3 The Sideboard must always contain the exact same number of cards between games.

902.4 Between games of a match (beginning after Game 1), players may swap cards between their Deck and Sideboard on a strict one-for-one basis.

902.5 At the start of each new match against a new opponent, players must return their Deck and Sideboard to their original registered configurations.

903. Sleeving and Card Condition

903.1 If a player chooses to sleeve their cards, all cards in the main Deck, Sideboard, and any potential cards that could be introduced during play must be sleeved in identical, indistinguishable, opaque sleeves in clean, tournament-legal condition, and must all be sleeved in the same number of either one or two sleeves. If a player does not choose to sleeve their cards, all of their cards must be in Mint or Near Mint condition, and may not have any easily identifiable marks or damage. Unsleeved decks must also not contain Foiled cards.

903.1a Sleeves are considered in tournament-legal condition if they are completely free of distinct markings, excessive wear, grease, creases, peeling, or other identifying characteristics that could distinguish individual cards. A Tournament Official or Judge has final authority on whether a player's sleeves meet this standard.

903.1b If a sleeve is found to have become non-tournament-legal during play, it must immediately be replaced with an identical tournament-legal sleeve. If an identical spare sleeve is not available, the player must resleeve their entire Deck and Sideboard into a fresh set of legal sleeves, or desleeve the entire Deck if all cards meet the unsleeved criteria in 903.1. The player is granted a reasonable timeframe (up to 10 minutes) to acquire replacements; failure to present a legal deck results in a Game Loss. If the card requiring resleeving is currently hidden information (such as inside a Deck), a Tournament Official or Judge must resleeve the card without revealing its face to either player, maintaining its exact position in that zone. A Tournament Official will grant a match time extension equal to the time taken to resolve the issue.

903.1c Sleeves displaying vulgarity, hate speech, symbols associated with hate groups, or sexually explicit, suggestive, or graphic imagery are strictly prohibited. Sleeves violating this rule must immediately be replaced following the procedure in 903.1b. Displaying hate speech or symbols associated with hate groups additionally results in an immediate Disqualification under Section 906.

903.2 If a card or effect instructs a player to choose or add a card from "in their collection", that card must be pre-sleeved in an identical sleeve before entering the player's Hand. Cards in a player's collection must be kept in a closed deckbox or binder separate from the playing surface until an effect instructs the player to search them. At the conclusion of the game, any cards introduced from a collection must be removed from all play areas and returned to the player's collection before Sideboarding or resetting.

904. Pace of Play

904.1 Players are expected to maintain an active, reasonable pace of play throughout all phases. Outside of complex response chains, a player should take no more than 30 to 45 seconds to declare and resolve any standard action or response. Taking excessive time without advancing the game state constitutes Slow Play.

904.2 When a card or effect instructs a player to search their Deck, Discard Pile, or collection, the player has a maximum time limit of one minute to examine the cards, make their selection, and reveal or declare their chosen card(s).

904.3 Physical shuffling, cutting, presenting the Deck to an opponent, and paying associated card costs are not counted against the one-minute search limit, but must be executed in a timely, continuous manner.

904.4 In judged matches, a Tournament Official or Judge may issue an immediate Slow Play Warning to any player who exceeds these limits.

904.5 In matches without a dedicated table judge, an opponent may notify the player once one minute has elapsed. If the search is not concluded within an additional 15 seconds, the opponent may pause play and summon a Tournament Official to issue a Slow Play Warning and oversee the remainder of the action.

904.6 If a player continues to take excessive time after receiving a warning during a search, an additional Slow Play Warning may be issued for each subsequent minute taken.

905. Penalty Escalation & Forfeiture

905.1 If a player receives three Slow Play Warnings within a single game, that player immediately forfeits that game (recorded as a Game Loss).

905.2 If a player receives five cumulative Slow Play Warnings or one warning for Unsporting Conduct across a single match, that player immediately forfeits the match (recorded as a Match Loss) and is eliminated from that round of play.

905.3 Forfeitures caused by penalty escalation resolve according to Win Condition C (Forfeit).

906. Unsporting Conduct

906.1 There are a number of offenses that are considered Unsporting Conduct. Any player committing these infractions receives an immediate Disqualification (DQ) without prize eligibility and must immediately leave the tournament venue:

906.2 If a Tournament Official determines that a player is intentionally delaying the game to run out the match timer.

906.3 If a player uses abusive, derogatory, harassing, or profane language directed at an opponent, spectator, or Tournament Official.

906.4 If a player assaults anyone in the Tournament Area.

906.5 If a player is definitively found to be cheating, including moving or altering dice when the game does not tell them to, moving cards between zones arbitrarily, or failing to appropriately pay costs for cards or effects.

906.6 If a player is found to have stolen or intentionally damaged something belonging to another attendee.

906.7 Players are required to demonstrate basic sporting mutual respect at the start and conclusion of every match.

906.7a Players must acknowledge each other prior to Game 1 (such as via a verbal greeting, handshake, fist bump, nod, or bow).

906.7b Upon the completion of the match and the signing of the match record, players must acknowledge the conclusion of the contest.

906.7c Physical contact is never mandatory; a simple verbal acknowledgment or bow is fully sufficient. However, an overt refusal to acknowledge an opponent when greeted, ignoring an offered non-contact acknowledgment, or departing with hostile contempt constitutes Unsporting Conduct.

906.8 Hygiene & Attire: All tournament attendees are expected to maintain personal cleanliness. If a player’s personal hygiene, bodily odor, or excessively soiled clothing creates an active, significant disruption to their opponent or the tournament space, a Tournament Official may instruct the player to remedy the issue within a reasonable timeframe. Failure or refusal to do so will result in a Match Loss and Disqualification under Unsporting Conduct.

907. Player Responsibilities and Triggers

907.1 Each player is solely responsible for announcing and resolving their own card effects and triggers. Opponents are under no obligation to remind a player of their triggers or assist them in tracking their game state.

907.2 If a player passes the timing window of an optional trigger without declaring it, that player is considered to have chosen not to use the effect.

907.3 Mandatory Triggers: If a player fails to resolve a mandatory trigger or maintenance step:

907.3a If caught immediately, the trigger resolves as completely as possible before play continues.

907.3b If the game state has substantially advanced, a Tournament Official or Judge may issue a Rule Violation Warning to the player responsible for the missed trigger.

907.3c Accumulating three Rule Violation Warnings in a match results in an immediate Match Loss, as outlined in Section 905.2.

907.4 If a Tournament Official determines that a player intentionally ignored or hid a mandatory trigger to gain an advantage or avoid a penalty, that player is immediately disqualified for Cheating under Section 906.5.

IACTA TCG OFFICIAL RULES REFERENCE DOCUMENT

100. General Principles

101. Golden Rules

101.1 Cards may break any of the game rules with their text. For example, a card may say that it is not able to be responded to. That card would play otherwise as normal, but no player would be able to respond to it.

101.2 If two continuous effects alter the rules in competing ways, the one played most recently takes precedence.

101.3 If an effect states that something cannot happen or is forbidden, that restriction takes absolute precedence over any effect allowing, granting, or directing it to happen regardless of which card was played most recently. (If an opponent’s card forbids you from taking the Cycle action, and you play a card that allows you to make an extra Cycle action this turn, you still cannot make that action.)

101.4 The official rules text, cost, and classification of any card is defined by its most recent physical printing or its listing in the most up-to-date official publication or card revision document (which is considered its ‘revised text’). Older printings of a card remain completely legal for play, but are treated as though they are printed with their most recent official text. Disregard completely any outdated wording, costs, or typos printed on older physical copies. For updated card text, check the Card Gallery at https://iacta-tcg.pages.dev/cardgallery.

102. Modified Values

102.1 When multiple effects modify a numerical value (such as a die's face, dice costs, number of cards drawn, or dice rolled), calculate the final value in this order:

102.1a Start with the face value (or any effect that sets it to a specific number, like "treat as a 6" or "costs exactly 2"). If multiple effects set a specific number, the most recently played effect takes precedence.

102.1b Apply all plus and minus modifiers (e.g., "+1 to value").

102.1c Apply any minimums, maximums, or caps. (Unless an effect explicitly states otherwise, dice values cannot be lower than 1, and die costs cannot be reduced below 0, nor can a card have fewer than zero dice in its dice cost.)

102.2 If a die has a value higher than six, it may still be used as part of combos when Flushed. It may also still be used to pay for costs requiring values that are met by its value, such as costs with only a minimum requirement, or costs requiring an even or odd value.

103. Losing and Removal from Play

103.1 A player who loses during the game is considered removed from play. All of their areas of play are also removed from play after returning any cards that started in the Decks of other players to those players’ Discard Piles.

104. Bypassing the Effect Resolution Area

104.1 Certain game functions bypass the Effect Resolution Area entirely and cannot be responded to.

104.2 Instant Resolutions, which are enforced immediately and automatically by the game engine before any player may declare an action, pay a cost, or receive priority. These include:

104.2a Initiating the end-of-game Cash Out sequence when a player meets the conditions of Win Condition B.

104.2b Dice placement in a Reserve or Register, or cards in Hand made illegal by active card effects (excess dice are immediately returned to the Supply, excess cards are discarded).

104.2c The discarding effect of the NAMESAKE Ability Word.

104.2d Initiating a win by declaring Iacta.

104.3 Abilities of face-up cards that state how the board is treated do not use the Effect Resolution Area. They are persistent rules of the game environment that apply continuously.

104.4 Substitution Effects (effects that alter an outcome using the word "instead" such as Noodle Cup) are not Instant Resolutions. They intercept and modify an action, cost, or value at the exact moment it occurs, without opening a response window.

200. Deck Construction

201. Deck Limits

201.1 A starting Deck may have no more than sixty cards, no fewer than forty, and no more than four of any one card unless the rules text of that card says otherwise.

201.1a A starting Deck is the Deck which is brought to a game before any cards have been drawn.

201.2 Cards which are foiled or have different arts are still counted toward the same total.

202. Syndicates and Splash Cards

202.1 A starting Deck must designate exactly one Major Syndicate and may contain any number of cards belonging to that Syndicate.

202.2 A starting Deck may contain any number of Neutral cards.

202.3 A starting Deck may contain up to one Splash Card for every five cards it contains, and all Splash Cards must belong to a single chosen Minor or Major Syndicate. For forty cards, eight cards may be Splash Cards. For sixty, twelve may be.

203. Legality

203.1 If a player is found during play to have broken any of these rules, they lose on the spot.

300. Areas of Play and The Tableau

301. General

301.1 The play areas are as follows: the Deck, the Hand, the Discard Pile, the Effect Resolution Area, the Register, the Reserve, the Supply, and the Backline. Each player has a Deck, a Hand, a Discard Pile, three Registers, a Reserve, and a Backline. The Effect Resolution Area and Supply are shared between all players.

301.2 If a play area would be discarded, all cards or dice in it are discarded instead. If it would be removed from play, all cards or dice in it are removed from play as well.

301.3 “Removed from play” is not a play area. A card that is removed from play is no longer in any play area and does not count as discarded. Any effects that affect or track a card in “any play area” do not affect or track cards that have been removed from play.

301.3a Cards which are removed from play are not considered “in your collection.”

301.4 The number of cards in a player's Hand and Deck, and the face value of dice in their Reserve and Registers, are public knowledge. Discard Piles are face-up and any player may examine them at any time. Face-down Backline cards are private information, and may only be examined by the player whose Backline they are in unless an effect permits otherwise.

400. Game Actions

401. Drawing

401.1 To draw a card, put it into your Hand from the top of your Deck. A card is drawn once it has entered your Hand.

401.2 If you would draw more cards than you have left in your Deck, simply draw as many as you are able to.

402. Discarding

402.1 To discard a card, put it into its owner's Discard Pile from the play area specified. An effect may tell you to discard a card from any play area. To discard a die, put it back into the Supply.

403. Choosing

403.1 When a card or effect requires you to "choose" something, you must make that choice at the time the action is Declared, placing it into the Effect Resolution Area. All players must know what is being chosen before they decide whether to respond.

403.2 If a choice is part of an effect that reads "If you do...", "When you do...", or involves looking at hidden information (such as drawing or revealing cards), that choice is not made upon Declaration. Instead, the choice is made during resolution, exactly when that part of the card's text occurs.

403.3 An action or card that requires a mandatory choice cannot be declared if no legal object to choose exists.

403.4 When an action is declared in a game with more than two players, priority to respond passes in turn order, starting with the player to the left of the active player.

500. The Effect Resolution Area

501. General Rules

501.1 The Effect Resolution Area is a physical area of play. Event Cards, triggered Trap Cards, declared variable actions, and activated and triggered effects of Perpetual Cards use the Effect Resolution Area to occur. Continuous effects (such as rules defining how dice are treated) and replacement effects (such as cards that modify banked points using "instead") never use the Effect Resolution Area, and apply immediately and passively.

501.2 If a card is discarded or moved to another area of play before its effect occurs, its effect may no longer occur. If a Perpetual Card is discarded or removed from play before an activated or triggered effect it owns in the Effect Resolution Area occurs, that effect may no longer occur.

501.3 When an activated or triggered effect of a Perpetual Card enters the Effect Resolution Area, the physical card remains in its Backline slot while its effect enters the area. Trap Cards may still be chosen as though they were in the Backline while they are in the Effect Resolution Area.

501.4 Event Cards may not be chosen as though they were in the Hand while they are in the Effect Resolution Area. Cards and effects that may discard them from the Effect Resolution Area will say so specifically, and must be declared before effects begin to occur.

501.5 Once a card's or effect's occurrence is complete, it leaves the Effect Resolution Area. If a card was placed into the Effect Resolution Area to be played or deployed to the Backline, it moves to its Backline slot once it occurs. Event Cards and resolved Trap Cards are discarded to their owner's Discard Pile unless their text states otherwise.

501.6 A Perpetual Card retains its passive effects while in play, and they continue to affect the game even while an activated or triggered effect it owns is in the Effect Resolution Area.

502. Triggers

502.1 If an effect or event occurs mid-resolution that meets the trigger condition of a Trap or Perpetual Card, that card (or its effect) is not immediately placed into the Effect Resolution Area. Instead, it becomes Pending. Once the Effect Resolution Area is completely empty, all Pending effects (along with any Pending Traps their owners choose to declare) are placed into the Effect Resolution Area in turn order, starting with the active player. If a player has multiple effects, they choose the order in which they are placed. Players may then declare responses normally before effects begin to occur.

502.2 If something happens in the game while effects are occurring that would trigger a triggered effect of the same Perpetual Card multiple times, that effect is placed into the Effect Resolution Area only once. When it is the top effect in the Effect Resolution Area, its effect occurs that many times in sequence. If the Perpetual Card is discarded as part of one of these instances occurring, no further instances may occur.

503. Cancellations and Impossible Actions

503.1 What it means for an effect or action to be cancelled depends on what is being cancelled. If an activated or triggered effect of a Perpetual Card is cancelled, it is removed from the Effect Resolution Area as though it had occurred, and the Perpetual Card itself is not discarded. If the effect of an Event or Trap Card is cancelled, that card is discarded. If an action is cancelled, it does not occur. When something is cancelled, its costs are not refunded.

503.2 If the Deploy action or reveal action of a card is cancelled, the card is not turned face up, and its effects do not activate. It is not discarded.

503.3 If a variable action is cancelled, the player who made it is still considered to have made the action, and may not make that action again in that turn unless the effect of another card allows them to.

503.4 If a card play action is cancelled, the card returns to its owner’s Hand. Their card play action is not refunded.

503.5 If an effect is impossible to resolve fully, it occurs as much as is possible. For example, if an effect would have you place three dice into your Registers, and you have only one slot open, you place only one of those dice into your Registers, and the others remain where they are.

900. Tournament & Organized Play

901. General

901.1 Tournament and organized competitive play follow all baseline rules of Iacta, subject to the following modifications, procedures, and enforcement criteria.

902. The Sideboard

902.1 In Tournament Play, a player may register a Sideboard of up to 10 cards alongside their Deck. Cards in the Sideboard count toward the four of a kind limit. Players may swap out as many cards from their Deck as they wish with cards from their Sideboard after any game.

902.2 The modified Deck must remain fully legal under all rules in Section 200, including the 40-to-60 card limit, the 1-per-5 Splash Card limit, and containing cards from at most one legal Major and one legal Minor Syndicate. (Cards from other Syndicates may remain in the Sideboard).

902.3 The Sideboard must always contain the exact same number of cards between games.

902.4 Between games of a match (beginning after Game 1), players may swap cards between their Deck and Sideboard on a strict one-for-one basis.

902.5 At the start of each new match against a new opponent, players must return their Deck and Sideboard to their original registered configurations.

903. Sleeving and Card Condition

903.1 If a player chooses to sleeve their cards, all cards in the main Deck, Sideboard, and any potential cards that could be introduced during play must be sleeved in identical, indistinguishable, opaque sleeves in clean, tournament-legal condition, and must all be sleeved in the same number of either one or two sleeves. If a player does not choose to sleeve their cards, all of their cards must be in Mint or Near Mint condition, and may not have any easily identifiable marks or damage. Unsleeved decks must also not contain Foiled cards.

903.1a Sleeves are considered in tournament-legal condition if they are completely free of distinct markings, excessive wear, grease, creases, peeling, or other identifying characteristics that could distinguish individual cards. A Tournament Official or Judge has final authority on whether a player's sleeves meet this standard.

903.1b If a sleeve is found to have become non-tournament-legal during play, it must immediately be replaced with an identical tournament-legal sleeve. If an identical spare sleeve is not available, the player must resleeve their entire Deck and Sideboard into a fresh set of legal sleeves, or desleeve the entire Deck if all cards meet the unsleeved criteria in 903.1. The player is granted a reasonable timeframe (up to 10 minutes) to acquire replacements; failure to present a legal deck results in a Game Loss. If the card requiring resleeving is currently hidden information (such as inside a Deck), a Tournament Official or Judge must resleeve the card without revealing its face to either player, maintaining its exact position in that zone. A Tournament Official will grant a match time extension equal to the time taken to resolve the issue.

903.1c Sleeves displaying vulgarity, hate speech, symbols associated with hate groups, or sexually explicit, suggestive, or graphic imagery are strictly prohibited. Sleeves violating this rule must immediately be replaced following the procedure in 903.1b. Displaying hate speech or symbols associated with hate groups additionally results in an immediate Disqualification under Section 906.

903.2 If a card or effect instructs a player to choose or add a card from "in their collection", that card must be pre-sleeved in an identical sleeve before entering the player's Hand. Cards in a player's collection must be kept in a closed deckbox or binder separate from the playing surface until an effect instructs the player to search them. At the conclusion of the game, any cards introduced from a collection must be removed from all play areas and returned to the player's collection before Sideboarding or resetting.

904. Pace of Play

904.1 Players are expected to maintain an active, reasonable pace of play throughout all phases. Outside of complex response chains, a player should take no more than 30 to 45 seconds to declare and resolve any standard action or response. Taking excessive time without advancing the game state constitutes Slow Play.

904.2 When a card or effect instructs a player to search their Deck, Discard Pile, or collection, the player has a maximum time limit of one minute to examine the cards, make their selection, and reveal or declare their chosen card(s).

904.3 Physical shuffling, cutting, presenting the Deck to an opponent, and paying associated card costs are not counted against the one-minute search limit, but must be executed in a timely, continuous manner.

904.4 In judged matches, a Tournament Official or Judge may issue an immediate Slow Play Warning to any player who exceeds these limits.

904.5 In matches without a dedicated table judge, an opponent may notify the player once one minute has elapsed. If the search is not concluded within an additional 15 seconds, the opponent may pause play and summon a Tournament Official to issue a Slow Play Warning and oversee the remainder of the action.

904.6 If a player continues to take excessive time after receiving a warning during a search, an additional Slow Play Warning may be issued for each subsequent minute taken.

905. Penalty Escalation & Forfeiture

905.1 If a player receives three Slow Play Warnings within a single game, that player immediately forfeits that game (recorded as a Game Loss).

905.2 If a player receives five cumulative Slow Play Warnings or one warning for Unsporting Conduct across a single match, that player immediately forfeits the match (recorded as a Match Loss) and is eliminated from that round of play.

905.3 Forfeitures caused by penalty escalation resolve according to Win Condition C (Forfeit).

906. Unsporting Conduct

906.1 There are a number of offenses that are considered Unsporting Conduct. Any player committing these infractions receives an immediate Disqualification (DQ) without prize eligibility and must immediately leave the tournament venue:

906.2 If a Tournament Official determines that a player is intentionally delaying the game to run out the match timer.

906.3 If a player uses abusive, derogatory, harassing, or profane language directed at an opponent, spectator, or Tournament Official.

906.4 If a player assaults anyone in the Tournament Area.

906.5 If a player is definitively found to be cheating, including moving or altering dice when the game does not tell them to, moving cards between zones arbitrarily, or failing to appropriately pay costs for cards or effects.

906.6 If a player is found to have stolen or intentionally damaged something belonging to another attendee.

906.7 Players are required to demonstrate basic sporting mutual respect at the start and conclusion of every match.

906.7a Players must acknowledge each other prior to Game 1 (such as via a verbal greeting, handshake, fist bump, nod, or bow).

906.7b Upon the completion of the match and the signing of the match record, players must acknowledge the conclusion of the contest.

906.7c Physical contact is never mandatory; a simple verbal acknowledgment or bow is fully sufficient. However, an overt refusal to acknowledge an opponent when greeted, ignoring an offered non-contact acknowledgment, or departing with hostile contempt constitutes Unsporting Conduct.

906.8 Hygiene & Attire: All tournament attendees are expected to maintain personal cleanliness. If a player’s personal hygiene, bodily odor, or excessively soiled clothing creates an active, significant disruption to their opponent or the tournament space, a Tournament Official may instruct the player to remedy the issue within a reasonable timeframe. Failure or refusal to do so will result in a Match Loss and Disqualification under Unsporting Conduct.

907. Player Responsibilities and Triggers

907.1 Each player is solely responsible for announcing and resolving their own card effects and triggers. Opponents are under no obligation to remind a player of their triggers or assist them in tracking their game state.

907.2 If a player passes the timing window of an optional trigger without declaring it, that player is considered to have chosen not to use the effect.

907.3 Mandatory Triggers: If a player fails to resolve a mandatory trigger or maintenance step:

907.3a If caught immediately, the trigger resolves as completely as possible before play continues.

907.3b If the game state has substantially advanced, a Tournament Official or Judge may issue a Rule Violation Warning to the player responsible for the missed trigger.

907.3c Accumulating three Rule Violation Warnings in a match results in an immediate Match Loss, as outlined in Section 905.2.

907.4 If a Tournament Official determines that a player intentionally ignored or hid a mandatory trigger to gain an advantage or avoid a penalty, that player is immediately disqualified for Cheating under Section 906.5.