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SECTION 1:
THE BASICS
The Protect your Link game is a strategy game played by two or more players, each of whom has a customized deck of PyL cards. Over the course of the game, each player will take turns playing cards such as Characters and Scenes. Each player starts at 0 knockouts. When you send your opponent to 10 knockouts by attacking with characters and playing scenes, you win!
Every PyL card has a type. A card's type tells you when you can play the card and what happens to the card after you do.
SCENE
A scene represents an action of some kind. You can play a scene only during a play phase of one of your own turns. A scene has its effect- in other words, you follow the instructions on the card- then you put it into your discard pile.
TRAPS
A scene represents a reaction of some kind. You can play a trap at any time during one of your opponent's turns. A trap has its effect- in other words, you follow the instructions on the card- then you put it into your discard pile.
CHARACTER
Characters fight for you. Each character has a power level, as indication of how skilled it is in combat. Characters attack during the action phase. Each character has a number of links, explained later.
ZONES
Since the PyL game doesn't have a game board, zones are the areas of play that exist on your table.
DECK
When the game begins, your deck of cards becomes your… deck (your draw pile).
It's kept face down, and the cards stay in the order they were in at the beginning of the game. No one can look at the cards in your library, but you can know how many cards are in each player's library. Each player has his or her own library.
BATTLEFIELD
You start the game with nothing on the battlefield, but this is where the action is going to be.
You can arrange your characters however you want, but your opponent must be able to see all of them and tell how they are linked. This zone is shared by both players.
DISCARD PILE
Your discard pile is your discard pile. Your scenes and traps go to your discard when they resolve.
Your creatures go to your discard pile if they have no active links. Cards in your graveyard are always face up and anyone can look at them at any time. Each player has his or her own graveyard.
LINKS
Links are very important to the game. Each link is between 2 characters. Every link has a level, and a Strain count. If the Strain count of a link is higher than its level, the link breaks, and is no longer active. Higher level links provide bonuses to the linked characters, described later. . A character can have any number of links at any time, but only 1 link of level 3. No two characters can have more than 1 link between them (including broken ones). If, at any time, a character has no active links, that character is destroyed.
TWIN OUT
You may not have more than one copy of a given character at a time, unless a card says otherwise.
SECTION 2:
THE BUILDING BLOCKS
This section describes the actions that you'll take during a game. You'll learn how to set a scene, as well as how to call a character. You'll also learn how to attack with your characters. The section finishes with a brief description of how to build your first deck.
SETTING A SCENE
To set a scene, take the card you want to play from your hand, show it to your opponent, and put it on the stack. (The stack is the game zone where cards resolve. It's usually in the middle of the table.)
There may be a choice that you need to make right now. If the scene has a target, you choose what (or who) that target is. Once you do that, the scene has been set. Upon being set, wait to see if your opponent plays a trap. If they do, resolve it first. Then, the scene has its effect (in other words, you follow the instructions on the card), then you put the card into your graveyard.
TARGET
When you see the word "target" on a scene or trap, you have to choose one or more things for the scene to affect. You'll be able to choose only certain kinds of things, such as "target link" or "target character." You choose the targets for a scene when you set it, and you choose targets for an activated ability when you activate it. If you can't meet the targeting requirements, you can't set the scene or activate the activated ability.
CALLING A CHARACTER
To call a character, take the card you want to play from your hand, show it to your opponent, and put it on the stack. (The stack is the game zone where cards resolve. It's usually in the middle of the table.)
There is a choice that you need to make right now. All characters come in to play with one link. Choose one other character you control to be this link. Once you do that, the character has been called. Upon being called, you put the card on the table in front of you, linked to the chosen other character. The card is now on the battlefield.
TRIGGERING A TRAP
To trigger a trap, take the card you want to play from your hand, show it to your opponent, and put it on the stack. (The stack is the game zone where cards resolve. It's usually in the middle of the table.)
There may be a choice that you need to make right now. If the trap has a target, you choose what (or who) that target is. Once you do that, the trap has been triggered, and has its effect (in other words, you follow the instructions on the card), then you put the card into your graveyard.
ABILITIES
As you start to accumulate characters on the battlefield, the game will change. That's because many characters have text on them that affects the game. This text tells you a character's abilities. There are two different kinds of abilities a character can have: static abilities and triggered abilities.
STATIC ABILITIES
A static ability is text that is always true while that card is on the battlefield. You don't activate a static ability. It just does what it says.
TRIGGERED ABILITIES
A triggered ability is text that happens when a specific event occurs in the game. Each triggered ability starts with the word "when," "whenever," or "at." You don't activate a triggered ability. It automatically triggers whenever the first part of the ability happens. If the ability triggers but then the character the ability came from leaves the battlefield, the ability will still resolve.
You can't choose to delay or ignore a triggered ability. However, if the ability targets something or someone but you can't choose a legal target for it, the ability won't do anything.
KEYWORDS
All abilities can be shortened to a single word or phrase. All of these have reminder text that gives you a brief description of the ability's effect.
ATTACKING
The primary way to win the game is to attack with your characters.
During each turn, you will have two action phases. (You'll learn about the parts of the turn in a bit.) In your action phase, you choose which one of your characters will attack, and you what they will attack. You can attack any one of your opponent's characters. You expend the attacking character. You can attack with a creature only if it's ready, and only if it was on the battlefield under your control when the turn began.
If your attacking character has more power than the attacked character, then the attacked character must assign 1 Strain to one of their links. Otherwise, the attacked character can counter-attack. If the attacked character has 3 or more power more than the attacking character, then the attacking character must assign 1 Strain to one of their links.
If a character has no active links, it is destroyed, and sent to its controller's graveyard. Its controller receives 1 knockout.
LINK BONUSES
Having high level links provides bonuses in combat, as does having a lot of them. The bonuses are as follows.
LEVEL
1- None
2- +1 Power for each
3- As level 2, and add the power of the other character in the link.
NUMBER OF LINKS
1-2- None
3-5- Double Power
6+- Triple Power
DECK BUILDING
You play a PyL game with your own customized deck. You build it yourself using whichever PyL cards you want. There are two rules: your deck must have at least 50 cards, and your deck can't have more than 6 copies of any single card. The rest is up to you, but here are some guidelines:
Characters: Characters account for about half of a typical 50-card deck. Choose characters that have a variety of abilities.
Scenes/traps: Scenes and traps make up the other half of your deck. Choose cards that complement your choice of characters.
After you play with your new deck for a while, you can start to customize it. Take out cards you don't feel are working well and add new cards you want to try. The best part about trading card games is being able to play with whatever cards you want, so start experimenting!
SECTION 3:
PLAYING A GAME
Now that you know the elements of the game and how to perform the main actions, it's time to walk through a turn. This section describes what happens in each part of a turn. An actual PyL game is pretty casual, despite how complex the structure may seem.
GET A DECK
You'll need your own PyL deck. You'll also need a way to keep track of both players' knockout totals, as well as small items to use as Strain counters.
When you're first getting started, you may want to pick up a ready-to-play deck, or borrow a deck from a friend. After you've built up your collection, try building your own deck.
GET A FRIEND
To play a game, you'll need an opponent! Your opponent will play against you using his or her own deck.
START THE GAME
Each player starts at 0 knockouts. You win the game by forcing your opponent to 10 knockouts. You also win if your opponent has to draw a card when none are left in his or her deck, or if your opponent has no characters in play.
Decide which player will go first. If you've just played the same opponent, the loser of the last game decides who goes first. Otherwise, roll a die or flip a coin to see who gets to decide.
Each player shuffles his or her deck, and then draws a hand of seven cards to start. If you don't like your opening hand, you can mulligan. Shuffle your hand back into your deck and draw a new hand of six cards. You can keep doing this, drawing a hand of one fewer card each time, until you decide to keep your cards.
After drawing and deciding to keep your starting hand, take up to 3 character cards from your hand and put them on the battlefield. Connect up to 2 level 1 links among them.
PARTS OF A TURN
Below are the parts of a turn. Each turn proceeds in the same sequence.
1. BEGINNING PHASE
A. Ready Step
You ready all your expended characters.
B. Draw Step
You draw a card from your deck. (The player who goes first skips the draw step on his or her first turn to make up for the advantage of going first.)
2. PHASE ONE
A. Link Step
You may create one new level 1 link during this step. If you do so, skip to phase two immediately, ignoring all steps in-between.
B. Play Step
You can play one card during this step. You can play a character or a scene during this phase, but remember that you can play only one of each during your turn. Your opponent can play a trap during this step, but only one over the entire turn.
C. Action Step
You can declare one attack during this phase. Your opponent can play a trap during this step, but only one over the entire turn.
3. PHASE TWO
A. Link Step
You may create one new level 1 link during this step. If you do so, skip to the ending phase immediately, ignoring all steps in-between.
B. Play Step
You can play one card during this step. You can play a character or a scene during this phase, but remember that you can play only one of each during your turn, and may have already played one before. Your opponent can play a trap during this step, but only one over the entire turn.
C. Action Step
You can declare one attack during this phase. Your opponent can play a trap during this step, but only one over the entire turn.
4. ENDING PHASE
A. Cleanup Step
If you have more than seven cards in your hand, choose and discard cards until you have only seven. Next, all "until end of turn" and "this turn" effects end.
THE NEXT TURN
Now it's your opponent's turn. That player readies his or her characters and goes from there. After that player is done, it will be your turn again. Keep going until a player is forced to 10 knockouts. As soon as a player has 10 knockouts, the game ends immediately and the other player wins!
THE BASICS
The Protect your Link game is a strategy game played by two or more players, each of whom has a customized deck of PyL cards. Over the course of the game, each player will take turns playing cards such as Characters and Scenes. Each player starts at 0 knockouts. When you send your opponent to 10 knockouts by attacking with characters and playing scenes, you win!
Every PyL card has a type. A card's type tells you when you can play the card and what happens to the card after you do.
SCENE
A scene represents an action of some kind. You can play a scene only during a play phase of one of your own turns. A scene has its effect- in other words, you follow the instructions on the card- then you put it into your discard pile.
TRAPS
A scene represents a reaction of some kind. You can play a trap at any time during one of your opponent's turns. A trap has its effect- in other words, you follow the instructions on the card- then you put it into your discard pile.
CHARACTER
Characters fight for you. Each character has a power level, as indication of how skilled it is in combat. Characters attack during the action phase. Each character has a number of links, explained later.
ZONES
Since the PyL game doesn't have a game board, zones are the areas of play that exist on your table.
DECK
When the game begins, your deck of cards becomes your… deck (your draw pile).
It's kept face down, and the cards stay in the order they were in at the beginning of the game. No one can look at the cards in your library, but you can know how many cards are in each player's library. Each player has his or her own library.
BATTLEFIELD
You start the game with nothing on the battlefield, but this is where the action is going to be.
You can arrange your characters however you want, but your opponent must be able to see all of them and tell how they are linked. This zone is shared by both players.
DISCARD PILE
Your discard pile is your discard pile. Your scenes and traps go to your discard when they resolve.
Your creatures go to your discard pile if they have no active links. Cards in your graveyard are always face up and anyone can look at them at any time. Each player has his or her own graveyard.
LINKS
Links are very important to the game. Each link is between 2 characters. Every link has a level, and a Strain count. If the Strain count of a link is higher than its level, the link breaks, and is no longer active. Higher level links provide bonuses to the linked characters, described later. . A character can have any number of links at any time, but only 1 link of level 3. No two characters can have more than 1 link between them (including broken ones). If, at any time, a character has no active links, that character is destroyed.
TWIN OUT
You may not have more than one copy of a given character at a time, unless a card says otherwise.
SECTION 2:
THE BUILDING BLOCKS
This section describes the actions that you'll take during a game. You'll learn how to set a scene, as well as how to call a character. You'll also learn how to attack with your characters. The section finishes with a brief description of how to build your first deck.
SETTING A SCENE
To set a scene, take the card you want to play from your hand, show it to your opponent, and put it on the stack. (The stack is the game zone where cards resolve. It's usually in the middle of the table.)
There may be a choice that you need to make right now. If the scene has a target, you choose what (or who) that target is. Once you do that, the scene has been set. Upon being set, wait to see if your opponent plays a trap. If they do, resolve it first. Then, the scene has its effect (in other words, you follow the instructions on the card), then you put the card into your graveyard.
TARGET
When you see the word "target" on a scene or trap, you have to choose one or more things for the scene to affect. You'll be able to choose only certain kinds of things, such as "target link" or "target character." You choose the targets for a scene when you set it, and you choose targets for an activated ability when you activate it. If you can't meet the targeting requirements, you can't set the scene or activate the activated ability.
CALLING A CHARACTER
To call a character, take the card you want to play from your hand, show it to your opponent, and put it on the stack. (The stack is the game zone where cards resolve. It's usually in the middle of the table.)
There is a choice that you need to make right now. All characters come in to play with one link. Choose one other character you control to be this link. Once you do that, the character has been called. Upon being called, you put the card on the table in front of you, linked to the chosen other character. The card is now on the battlefield.
TRIGGERING A TRAP
To trigger a trap, take the card you want to play from your hand, show it to your opponent, and put it on the stack. (The stack is the game zone where cards resolve. It's usually in the middle of the table.)
There may be a choice that you need to make right now. If the trap has a target, you choose what (or who) that target is. Once you do that, the trap has been triggered, and has its effect (in other words, you follow the instructions on the card), then you put the card into your graveyard.
ABILITIES
As you start to accumulate characters on the battlefield, the game will change. That's because many characters have text on them that affects the game. This text tells you a character's abilities. There are two different kinds of abilities a character can have: static abilities and triggered abilities.
STATIC ABILITIES
A static ability is text that is always true while that card is on the battlefield. You don't activate a static ability. It just does what it says.
TRIGGERED ABILITIES
A triggered ability is text that happens when a specific event occurs in the game. Each triggered ability starts with the word "when," "whenever," or "at." You don't activate a triggered ability. It automatically triggers whenever the first part of the ability happens. If the ability triggers but then the character the ability came from leaves the battlefield, the ability will still resolve.
You can't choose to delay or ignore a triggered ability. However, if the ability targets something or someone but you can't choose a legal target for it, the ability won't do anything.
KEYWORDS
All abilities can be shortened to a single word or phrase. All of these have reminder text that gives you a brief description of the ability's effect.
ATTACKING
The primary way to win the game is to attack with your characters.
During each turn, you will have two action phases. (You'll learn about the parts of the turn in a bit.) In your action phase, you choose which one of your characters will attack, and you what they will attack. You can attack any one of your opponent's characters. You expend the attacking character. You can attack with a creature only if it's ready, and only if it was on the battlefield under your control when the turn began.
If your attacking character has more power than the attacked character, then the attacked character must assign 1 Strain to one of their links. Otherwise, the attacked character can counter-attack. If the attacked character has 3 or more power more than the attacking character, then the attacking character must assign 1 Strain to one of their links.
If a character has no active links, it is destroyed, and sent to its controller's graveyard. Its controller receives 1 knockout.
LINK BONUSES
Having high level links provides bonuses in combat, as does having a lot of them. The bonuses are as follows.
LEVEL
1- None
2- +1 Power for each
3- As level 2, and add the power of the other character in the link.
NUMBER OF LINKS
1-2- None
3-5- Double Power
6+- Triple Power
DECK BUILDING
You play a PyL game with your own customized deck. You build it yourself using whichever PyL cards you want. There are two rules: your deck must have at least 50 cards, and your deck can't have more than 6 copies of any single card. The rest is up to you, but here are some guidelines:
Characters: Characters account for about half of a typical 50-card deck. Choose characters that have a variety of abilities.
Scenes/traps: Scenes and traps make up the other half of your deck. Choose cards that complement your choice of characters.
After you play with your new deck for a while, you can start to customize it. Take out cards you don't feel are working well and add new cards you want to try. The best part about trading card games is being able to play with whatever cards you want, so start experimenting!
SECTION 3:
PLAYING A GAME
Now that you know the elements of the game and how to perform the main actions, it's time to walk through a turn. This section describes what happens in each part of a turn. An actual PyL game is pretty casual, despite how complex the structure may seem.
GET A DECK
You'll need your own PyL deck. You'll also need a way to keep track of both players' knockout totals, as well as small items to use as Strain counters.
When you're first getting started, you may want to pick up a ready-to-play deck, or borrow a deck from a friend. After you've built up your collection, try building your own deck.
GET A FRIEND
To play a game, you'll need an opponent! Your opponent will play against you using his or her own deck.
START THE GAME
Each player starts at 0 knockouts. You win the game by forcing your opponent to 10 knockouts. You also win if your opponent has to draw a card when none are left in his or her deck, or if your opponent has no characters in play.
Decide which player will go first. If you've just played the same opponent, the loser of the last game decides who goes first. Otherwise, roll a die or flip a coin to see who gets to decide.
Each player shuffles his or her deck, and then draws a hand of seven cards to start. If you don't like your opening hand, you can mulligan. Shuffle your hand back into your deck and draw a new hand of six cards. You can keep doing this, drawing a hand of one fewer card each time, until you decide to keep your cards.
After drawing and deciding to keep your starting hand, take up to 3 character cards from your hand and put them on the battlefield. Connect up to 2 level 1 links among them.
PARTS OF A TURN
Below are the parts of a turn. Each turn proceeds in the same sequence.
1. BEGINNING PHASE
A. Ready Step
You ready all your expended characters.
B. Draw Step
You draw a card from your deck. (The player who goes first skips the draw step on his or her first turn to make up for the advantage of going first.)
2. PHASE ONE
A. Link Step
You may create one new level 1 link during this step. If you do so, skip to phase two immediately, ignoring all steps in-between.
B. Play Step
You can play one card during this step. You can play a character or a scene during this phase, but remember that you can play only one of each during your turn. Your opponent can play a trap during this step, but only one over the entire turn.
C. Action Step
You can declare one attack during this phase. Your opponent can play a trap during this step, but only one over the entire turn.
3. PHASE TWO
A. Link Step
You may create one new level 1 link during this step. If you do so, skip to the ending phase immediately, ignoring all steps in-between.
B. Play Step
You can play one card during this step. You can play a character or a scene during this phase, but remember that you can play only one of each during your turn, and may have already played one before. Your opponent can play a trap during this step, but only one over the entire turn.
C. Action Step
You can declare one attack during this phase. Your opponent can play a trap during this step, but only one over the entire turn.
4. ENDING PHASE
A. Cleanup Step
If you have more than seven cards in your hand, choose and discard cards until you have only seven. Next, all "until end of turn" and "this turn" effects end.
THE NEXT TURN
Now it's your opponent's turn. That player readies his or her characters and goes from there. After that player is done, it will be your turn again. Keep going until a player is forced to 10 knockouts. As soon as a player has 10 knockouts, the game ends immediately and the other player wins!
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