In Mod, you pilot a colossal robot and you've been ordered to destroy the enemy robot. You do this by blasting laser beams, firing off heat-seeking missiles, and dual wielding plasma swords, all while drafting new cards into your deck to expand your combat capabilities. Be the last mech standing in this deckbuilding game for 2 players.
How to Win
Each player starts the game with 10 durability (hit points). At any point, if your opponent has no durability remaining, the game ends immediately and you win!
Card Types
Action cards represent your robot's arsenal and protocols, providing powerful abilities. After one of your actions is assigned to the stack and resolved (more on this below), it is placed in your discard pile.
Upgrade cards represent your robot's equipment and hardware, giving protective shields and various benefits. After one of your upgrades is assigned to the stack and resolved, it is placed in your personal play area, staying there until you choose to discard it to prevent damage of its shield type (red shields prevent impact damage, blue shields prevent energy damage, and purple shields prevent either).
At the beginning of the game, all action and upgrade cards are shuffled together, then divided evenly into three face-up decks. Throughout the course of the game, both you and your opponent can choose and draft cards from the top of any of these decks or their associated discard piles, adding the drafted cards to your own personal deck.
The Stack
During each round, you and your opponent take turns adding cards to "the stack", a shared area between both players. The stack is where most of the activity in Mod takes place.
Whenever you place a card into the stack, it is placed on your side, with a total of five slots available to you. The card you place will stay in the stack until the stack is full (with both your side and your opponent's side containing five cards each).
Once the stack is full, cards in the stack will "activate", resolving in the reverse order that they were placed. This means that the last card placed into the stack will be the first to activate and the first card placed will be the last to activate.
Whenever you place a card into the stack, it is placed on your side, with a total of five slots available to you. The card you place will stay in the stack until the stack is full (with both your side and your opponent's side containing five cards each).
Once the stack is full, cards in the stack will "activate", resolving in the reverse order that they were placed. This means that the last card placed into the stack will be the first to activate and the first card placed will be the last to activate.
Round Structure
Each round is broken into three phases: (1) command, (2) activation, and (3) reset.
(1) Command
The command phase starts a round.
During the command phase, priority of play will alternate back and forth between each player, giving the player with priority the opportunity to place cards into their side of the stack. The player with the initiative token (passed at the end of the round) gains first priority.
While you have priority, you can choose one of three options. Either:
After you assign, eject, or draft a card into the stack, pass priority to the next player.
Once there are five cards on each side of the stack (ten cards in total), the command phase ends. Proceed to the activation phase.
(2) Activation
Activate cards in the opposite order that they were placed into the stack (starting with the last card placed and ended with the first placed).
If a card on your side of the stack is assigned (face-up in the vertical orientation), resolve the card.
If a card on your side of the stack is ejected (face-down in the vertical orientation), choose to either draw 1 card from your deck or gain 1 fuel, then add the ejected card to your discard pile.
If a card on your side of the stack is drafted (in the horizontal orientation), add that card to your personal discard pile.
Once there are no cards in the stack, the activation phase ends. Proceed to the reset phase.
(3) Reset
(1) Command
The command phase starts a round.
During the command phase, priority of play will alternate back and forth between each player, giving the player with priority the opportunity to place cards into their side of the stack. The player with the initiative token (passed at the end of the round) gains first priority.
While you have priority, you can choose one of three options. Either:
- Assign: Place one card from your hand face-up into the stack in a vertical orientation.
- Eject: Place one card from your hand face-down into the stack in a vertical orientation.
- Draft: Choose the top card of a shared deck or shared discard pile and place it face-up into the stack in a horizontal orientation.
After you assign, eject, or draft a card into the stack, pass priority to the next player.
Once there are five cards on each side of the stack (ten cards in total), the command phase ends. Proceed to the activation phase.
(2) Activation
Activate cards in the opposite order that they were placed into the stack (starting with the last card placed and ended with the first placed).
If a card on your side of the stack is assigned (face-up in the vertical orientation), resolve the card.
- For an action card, trigger each ability in its text box from top to bottom, pay its fuel cost, then add the action card to your discard pile.
- For an upgrade card, pay its fuel cost, then add the upgrade card to your personal play area.
If a card on your side of the stack is ejected (face-down in the vertical orientation), choose to either draw 1 card from your deck or gain 1 fuel, then add the ejected card to your discard pile.
If a card on your side of the stack is drafted (in the horizontal orientation), add that card to your personal discard pile.
Once there are no cards in the stack, the activation phase ends. Proceed to the reset phase.
(3) Reset
- Each player draws 1 card from their own deck and gains 1 fuel.
- Pass the initiative token to the next player.
- Discard the top card of each shared deck into its associated discard pile.
- The round ends. Proceed to the next round.
* All art included in this prototype is from the REXARD asset pack, intended only as a placeholder images.