Quick Start

• Activate the DD - PATREONS group, if required.
• Register through the Onboarding & HUD Pillar.
• Choose your DawnDeck species.
• Pick up and wear the latest HUD.
• Open your Welcoming Chest.
• Organize and save your deck.
• Review your species passive skill.
• Use Nearby Scan to find an available opponent.
• Send a challenge and play your first match.

📷Activate the Patreon group

Closed Patreon version only: Activate the DD - PATREONS group before registering or picking up your HUD.

Register and choose your species

1. 📷Click the DawnDeck — Onboarding & HUD Pillar.
2. 📷Register for DawnDeck.
3. 📷Choose your DawnDeck species.
4. 📷Pick up and wear your HUD.
5. 📷After wearing it, an input dialog would show up. Enter the activation code to bind it.

⚠️ Choose carefully: Each species has a unique passive skill that affects how you build your deck and play. You can change your species later only through the Species Reset Pillar, which requires payment.

📷Open your Welcoming Chest

After registering and choosing your species, you will receive a Welcoming Chest containing your first 10 cards. Open it to reveal your cards and begin building your first deck.

The Welcoming Chest does not require a key to open. View the Welcoming Chest in the Card Catalog.

📷Organize your deck

Use the Deck Builder to arrange your cards in the order you want them to become available during a match. Your first five positions are especially important because those cards form your starting hand.

📷Find an opponent

Use Nearby Scan on your HUD for PvP matches, select an available player, and send a challenge. The match begins when the other player accepts it.

The crystal on top of your HUD turns red when there are DawnDeck players nearby on the land.

📷Starting a match

• A match starts when one player sends a challenge and the other player accepts it.
• The challenger always takes the first turn.
• Each match can last up to 7 rounds.
• Card effects are applied immediately after a card is played.

Taking a turn

Each player has 45 seconds to take their turn. During your turn, you may:

• Play one card; or
• Pass the turn.

If the timer reaches zero before you act, your turn is automatically passed. After 3 consecutive automatic passes, you abandon the match and your opponent wins. Playing a card or passing on purpose resets that streak.

Use Practice on your HUD to learn the match mechanics against the computer before you start PvP. Practice uses your active Deck, matches you against a similar-DPR computer Deck with its own Species, and gives no rewards.

Crystal and Arcane

Each player has two resources:

📷After a player's first turn, they recover +1 Arcane at the beginning of each following turn. Card effects can restore Crystal or Arcane, but neither resource can exceed its maximum value.

Winning the match

You win immediately if your opponent's Crystal reaches 0, or if they surrender or abandon the match.

If both players still have Crystal after all seven rounds, the winner is determined by the first applicable rule below:

1. Most Crystal remaining;
2. Most Arcane remaining;
3. Most Crystal damage dealt;
4. Most Arcane damage dealt;
5. Most cards remaining in hand;
6. If the match is still tied, the challenger wins.

📷Starting hand

At the beginning of a match, the first 5 cards in your chosen deck order are revealed and become available to play.

📷New card reveals

At the beginning of each new round, one card is randomly revealed from the remaining cards in your deck. This continues until your match hand contains 10 cards. The fifth additional reveal is the final one.

Extra deck slots

You can purchase up to 5 additional deck slots. These slots give you more cards that may be selected for a match, but they do not increase the match-hand limit: only 10 cards can become available during a match.

Multiple decks

You are not limited to one deck. Reach 500 XP to unlock a second deck, once and only once — it never grants a third deck or later. Every deck past that is bought as a whole Extra Deck at DawnDeck - Buy Extra Decks — a different purchase from a deck slot, since it is an entire new deck, not more cards for one you already have. The Portal Deck Builder does not sell Extra Decks. You can own up to 5 decks total; the object quotes the current price before payment, and later Extra Decks cost more. One of your decks is always your Match Deck, the one PvP, nearby scan, and Practice use — switch it any time in the Portal Deck Builder or with My Decks at the in-world terminal. A card can only sit in one deck at a time.

DawnDeck has seven card effects. Each effect has its own symbol and color, reflected both in the card interface and in the tones of its splash art.

📷Public Codes

Every card has a name and a unique Public Code, shown in the top-right corner of its splash art.

📷Activating a combo

A combo is an additional effect activated when you play a card immediately after the specific card it requires.

If a card can complete a combo:

• 📷The required previous card's Public Code appears in the bottom-left corner;
• The combo's additional effect and value appear above that code;
• A card with an available combo is highlighted with a special yellow background during a match.

Your DawnDeck species is independent from your DawnDream race. The names and lore are related, but your selection in one game does not affect the other.

Each DawnDeck species has a unique passive skill. Your species should influence both how you build your deck and how you approach a match. 📷

📷Species Affinity

Cards that match your species cost 1 less Arcane to play. A card's cost can never be reduced below 1 Arcane.

When Species Affinity activates, your species symbol may display a special animation on the HUD.

📷Deck Power Rating (DPR)

DPR stands for Deck Power Rating. It represents the estimated overall strength of your deck.

Each card has its own DPR value. Your deck's total DPR is calculated by adding together the DPR of all active cards in that deck. In general, a higher DPR means the deck contains more powerful cards.

DPR is only a power reference. It is not a resource and is not spent during matches. A higher rating also does not guarantee victory: card synergy, combos, timing, and strategy remain essential.

Tip: Do not focus only on the highest DPR. A well-built deck with cards that work together can outperform a deck with more raw power.