Comprehensive Rules of FE Cipher

This page was last updated on 11/08/2016.
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Fire Emblem 0 (Cipher)

In Fire Emblem 0 (Cipher), two players go in a turn-based battle between their Lords (this is also known as the main character). Each deck must at least contain 50 cards (there is no upper limit otherwise) which consists of numerous different characters and the Insignia(s) that they play (there’s no limit to the amount of insignias that can be played). Characters can fall into many different Affinities, from the kind of Weapon they use, what gender they are, or the kind of specific type of unit they are (this is explained later). As of now, there is only one way to win the game. You win by defeating your opponent’s Lord while they have no cards in their Orb Zone (Orbs and what not will be explained later).

What exactly is on a Fire Emblem 0 card?

[What's on each card]

Anything marked with a * is further explained below, each number below corresponds to the number in the above image (hover your mouse over the affinities and you can see which is which). 1 - Deployment Cost* 2 - Promotion / Class Change Cost* 3 - Colour / Insignia* (So far, there are 7 Colours - Red, Blue, White, Black, Green, Purple and Orange) 4 - Affinities* (Each card has numerous affinities: Gender - / , The type of Weapon held - / / / Bow / / / Dragon Stone / Shuriken / and the type of unit they are - Armor / Flying / Mounted / and Sharp ) 5 - Skill* 6 - Support Skill* 7 - Power* 8 - Character’s Title* (A fancy title that each character is given. This distinguishes each character (yes, even the same character with a different title), as you can play any number of different cards for that character as long as it has a different title) 9 - Character’s Name (The specific character that is shown in the picture on the card. Character’s names can matter in some cases, especially when it comes to Formation Skills) 10 - Character’s Range (The range indicates where a unit can attack from. This will be explained in further detail when it comes to the phases of the game.) 11 - Character’s Class (Unit Type) (This is also more in aesthetics or for the sake of putting it there to make it descriptive, but a character’s class pretty much determines the attributes they get) 12 - Support*

General Terminology

[Common Terms and the Explanations for them]

Lord / Main Character This is the main unit that each player begins the game with. Both players choose one Cost 1 Character before the start of a game, which is designated as your Lord. Your Lord is the only unit that does not go to your Retreat when it is or defeated by battle or by a Skill. Instead, you must take an Orb each time your Lord is defeated (by an attack or a skill). When you have no cards left in your Orb Area to take after being defeated, you lose the game. Bonds These are cards that are set aside from the field, which acts as a limit to the specific symbol in relation to the units you can play down and the amount of units you can play down in a single turn. They also act as a separate system for using skills (you have to flip these cards face-down to activate the skills of cards if the skills require bonds to be flipped as a cost). Orbs Before the game begins, these are 5 cards that act as your life (or hit points) for your main character. Each time your Lord is defeated by an attack or skill, you must take one of these cards, and if you can’t take any more Orbs, you lose the game. At any time during the game, you cannot look at any of your Orbs unless you activate a skill that allows you to do so. Affinity The symbols in a column on the upper left side of a card, notifying the different types of weapons and characteristics that specific card has. This can be important to some particular effects. Colour / Insignia This is the first symbol you will see on each card (in the top left corner), and each card belongs to only one Colour unless it has an skill that states otherwise. This is important when it comes to deploying your units each turn and important for particular unit's skills. Power The strength of a unit when it's attacking or being attacked. The amount of Power a unit has is represented by the big number on the bottom left side of the card. This goes hand in hand with the Support number from cards in the Support Zone. Support The support power of a card that is supporting an attacking/defending card. The amount of support a unit has is represented by the big number on the bottom right side of the card. When a unit attacks or is attacked, the Power of the unit attacking or getting attacked and the Support of the unit placed in the Support Zone from the top of the deck are combined to become the total power for that battle. The addition of Support Power only occurs if the unit successfully supports. A support CAN fail if the character currently in battle is supported by another copy of themselves, in which the support card is instantly sent to the Retreat Area. A failed support does not give any power to the unit and any support skills that unit has are nullified. Deployment Cost The amount of Bonds that are required to place down a unit directly onto your field. This is signified by the larger number in the top left corner of the card. Promotion / Class Change Cost The amount of Bonds that's required to class change a card. This is represented by the number right below the Deployment Cost. If you want to play down a unit with a promotion cost without promoting, you must pay the normal deployment cost instead. Class Change A Class Change is when you place a card with the same name on top of a character you control paying the Promotion cost instead of using the normal Deployment Cost. Cards that are played this way are considered class changed and each time you class change a unit, you draw a card as a bonus for class changing. Units that are class changed are also considered "Levelled Up". Class Changing is NOT the same as deploying a unit. Level Up A Level Up is when a card without a Class Change Cost is placed on top of a unit you control with the same name on top of a character, using the normal cost. Unlike a Class Change, when you perform a Level Up, you do not draw a card. Levelling Up is NOT the same as deploying a unit. Growth The term used when placing / stacking a card with the same name underneath a unit. This is always done via the use of Skills, where Growth is referred as a specific term in certain skills. A unit that has performed a “Growth” is considered to be a levelled up unit which can use it’s Class Change Skills.

Skills

Each unit has a set of skill(s) that determines what that unit is able to do. Skills are similar to Monster Effects in Yu-Gi-Oh!. There are currently six different types of skills in the game, and may come with specific conditions / requirements to activate them. These are the current types of skills:

[The Different Types of Skills]

ACT/Activate The Activate icon represents a skill that you can only activates during your Action Phase. AUTO/Trigger The Trigger icon represents a skill that activates in response to an action that occurs or when a specific condition is fulfilled. CONT/Continuous The Continuous icon represents a skill that is always active as long as the unit with the skill stays on the field (the card can specify otherwise if not) as long as their condition is fulfilled. BOND/Bond The Bond icon represents a skill that can only be activated while the card itself is in the Bond Zone. SPEC/Special The Special icon represents a skill that doesn’t belong in any of the above categories. Basically anything else that isn’t possible that isn't covered by the other type of skills, like having an effect that activates while in the hand or the unit itself also counting as another unit's name. SUPP/Support This icon is on every single Support Skill in the game. A support skill is only activated when the card is in the Support Zone.

A majority of the cards in the game have requirements or restrictions placed on their skills. Some skills even have more than one requirement to activate it. Below is a list explaining what each requirement / restriction is:

[The Requirements / Restrictions on Skills]

Tap Switching the card to a Horizontal Position (or turning a card 90 degrees clockwise) to show that the card has performed an action (Tapping to activate a skill is quite common, note that you have to Tap to perform an attack or move in Cipher). You also cannot use a skill that has Tap as a requirement if the unit in question is already tapped. Once Per Turn A condition that indicates that the skill can only be used in one instance each turn. Flip (X) Bond Where “X” represents a number, sometimes a skill may ask you to flip-down a certain amount of face-up bonds to activate said skill (the image shows Flip 1 Bond). \ Note that a face down bond cannot be returned face-up without performing a skill (no skill in the game does this as of now). Send a (X) card from your Hand into your Retreat Zone This type of requirement is on a skill that asks you to “Discard” a copy of a certain character from your hand to the Retreat in order to activate it (For example, Cost 5 Marth). A majority of these types of skills have the outcome to potentially grant you victory in your games. CCS/Class Change Skill A Class Change Skill is a skill that is only active when a unit is class changed. This requires a card with a class change cost with the same name as the unit below it. FS/Formation Skill A skill that requires specific other characters to be tapped in order to activate it. These are mostly Triangle Attacks. LvS(X) Where “X” represents a number, LvlS is a requirement where your unit’s entire stack needs to be a certain number. Stack refers to the amount of cards that unit has in total, counting the top card as well. If a skill requires LvlS2, then you need a total stack of 2, which means one card under the unit, so basically the number of cards you need under the unit is the stack required minus 1. US / Union Skill A skill requires a specific colour bond to be in the Bond Zone to make the skill active (So far it’s only Azura and Corrin who have this type of skill, so the colour is opposite to the colour that Azura / Corrin are). CF/Carnage Form This skill is exclusive to the Tokyo Mirage Sessions Mirages in Cipher. It requires the Mirage to be in the same area as it’s Mirage Master (both units need to be in the front line or rear line), which allows the Mirage to be unbeatable by battle with an enemy unit (the skill is only active while the Mirage Master is still on the field). BS/Bond Skill A skill that requires the specific unit with this skill to be in the bond zone to be active.

The following icons represent the ( Support Skills) , which only activate while that card is in the Support Zone.

[The types of Support Skills]
Attack Support Symbol used for skills that activate during your action phase while you’re attacking. Defence Support Symbol used for skills that only activate during your opponent’s action phase while you’re defending.

Overall View of the Gameplay Area

You don’t have to copy this Gameplay Area completely, but it’s highly recommended you do as a general consensus because everyone will probably be using it.

[What the Gameplay Area consists of]

Deck Your deck goes here. The instant when you have no cards left in your Deck, your Retreat Area is then shuffled and then placed back here (This action happens instantly, and takes priority before the next action in the game, e.g When the last card in your Deck is placed in the Support Area). Retreat Area The Retreat Area is where all cards go after being checked in the Support Area, when a player activates a skill that requires a card to be sent here, performs a critical hit / god speed evasion and when a unit is defeated by an attack. Support Area This is where cards that are supporting your units go. After each battle, a card that was used as Support is sent to the Retreat Area. When a Support is considered a failed support, that card instantly goes into the Retreat Area. Orb Area The Orb Area is where the Orbs from the beginning of the game go. At the start of a game after each player has a starting hand, you place five cards here face-down. Each time your Lord gets defeated by an attack, you take a card from this area. If there are no cards remaining here while your Lord gets defeated once more, you lose. Bond Area The Bond Area is where you optionally place your Bonds during the Bond Phase. They are used for costs of effects which state it and are in relation to deploying your units. The common way to place bonds down is overlapping each other, either horizontally or vertically. Vanguard Area The Vanguard Area (also known as the Front Line) is one of two areas you may place your units down. This is where both player’s Lords are placed down at the beginning of the game. There is no limit to the number of units that can be placed down here. Rearguard Area The Rearguard Area (also known as the Back Line) is the other area where you may place a unit down. Note that you cannot have a unit in the Rearguard Area without having any units in the Vanguard Area, otherwise a Forced March (more about that later) will occur. Just like the Vanguard Area, there is no limit to the number of units that can be placed down here.

Playing the Game

A player’s deck must contain at least 50 cards (The Lord character you set aside from your Deck is also included in the Deck), and there is no upper maximum limit for a Deck. Decks may contain no more than 4 copies of the same card, and there is no limitation on the amount of different characters you can play, as long as there aren’t more than four cards with the exact same character and title (You can play up to four copies of the same character as long as their character title doesn’t match, e.g 4 copies of Marth, Crown Prince of Altea and 4 copies of Marth, Lodestar in your Deck).

[Before Starting the Game]

Before starting a game, decide which player will start in a method that both players deem fair (Coin toss, rolling a dice, rock-scissors paper, etc). The player who takes the first turn skips their Beginning Phase and cannot declare an attack for that turn. This means missing out on drawing a card for the first turn. However this also means being faster in terms of Bonds and Deployment. Choose whether to go first wisely. Set aside one cost 1 unit from your deck face-down as a "Lord" (or referred to as Main Character (or MC)). Note that a Lord absolutely must be a cost 1 unit (there are no exceptions). You don’t have to do this, but it’s easier to keep up with the game: Place a card underneath your Lord (it can be any card, it doesn’t even have to be from Cipher, it could be from another TCG entirely) to signify that it is the Lord (FE Cipher Starter decks come with a marker card you can use, or you can purchase a Marker Character Card online). This allows players to distinguish other units from the Lord. General Tip: Most Cipher decks are built around a specific Lord to begin with, so the Lord that a player chooses is the same every time they play that deck. Both players shuffle their decks and draw six cards as their opening hand. Both players are also allowed the option to Mulligan (where a player places the whole opening hand they drew back into the deck, shuffle it, and draw six new cards), but only one Mulligan is allowed. After each player has drawn their hand and are ready, each player puts the top 5 cards of their deck face-down into their Orb Area. Each player flips their Lord face-up. Now begin the game!

The Phases of The Game

When playing the game, both players goes through five different phases of the game each turn. As mentioned before, the player who takes the first turn must skip their Beginning Phase, and cannot declare an attack during their Action Phase.

Beginning Phase - The start of a player’s turn
Bond Phase - The optional placement of a card into the Bond Zone
Deployment Phase - The optional deployment of units to perform battle
Action Phase - The actual phase of combat, which includes Battle, the use of Skills, and moving units
End Phase - The end of a player turn, which signifies the next player turn

Beginning Phase

[The Beginning Phase]

Skip this phase if you are going first. First off, activate any skills that have a requirement at this stage of the game and must take priority before the next steps of this phase. This is seen on all units with the skill text “At the start of your turn”. “Untap” all of your units back to the pre-action state. You do this by turning your horizontal cards vertical again. In short, it makes any unit that performed an action last turn be able to perform an action this turn. The current turn player draws a card from the Deck for their turn. The order of drawing a card and “untapping” does not matter in the slightest, you can do it in any order you want.

Bond Phase

[The Bond Phase]

The Bond Phase is the option of whether or not you want to place a card from your hand into the Bond Zone (turning a card into a Bond). This is important for the first few beginning turns, as you want to deploy more units later on. Bonds are also required to activate the skills of units with bond flip costs on them. You do not have to Bond a card during this phase, it is optional (it can be good to not bond a card in the later parts of the game)

Deployment Phase

[The Deployment Phase]

During the Deployment Phase, the turn player may place units from their hand into the front line or back line (it’s up to the player’s choice) or class change their units. A player may also "level up" their units, but this is rarely done. More about Class Change / Level Up listed below. The cost of amount of units you are able to play for each turn is dependant on the amount of bonds you control (You cannot play more than one 1 cost unit if you only have 1 bond, more than two 1 cost units / one 2 cost unit if you have two bonds, etc) You do not have to deploy the maximum amount of units you can deploy for that turn.

[The Rules of Deployment]

To deploy a unit, simply place that unit from your hand to either the front line or the back line, but only if you have the bonds remaining to deploy that unit. You cannot control two of the exact same character, regardless of the card’s title (you cannot deploy a character with the same name as a character you already have on the field). For example, you cannot deploy another copy of Marth if you already control Marth on your field. There are also colour restrictions when it comes to deploying, class changing or levelling up your units: You can only deploy, class change or level up a unit if you have at least one face-up card of that unit’s colour in your Bond Zone (you can’t deploy Shiida if you do not control at least one Red Bond). It is only okay to deploy, class change or level up a unit if you control at least one bond that is the same colour as the unit you want to deploy (you can only deploy cost 4 Lucina if one of the four bonds you control is at least Blue). A face-down bond (flipped by the cost of skills) does not count as any colour while it is face down, but still counts towards the amount of units you are able to deploy, class change or level up, however, if all the bonds in your bond zone are face-down you cannot deploy any units (using the same above example, you can deploy the cost 4 Lucina if you control at least one face-up Blue bond, even if the other bonds are face down).

---Class Change---

In the example shown above, Cain (Cost 1) class changes to Cain (Cost 3) [Doing this only requires 2 Bonds of deployment for the turn, as it is a Class Change and not a normal deployment]

[Class Change]

*A Class change is the action of placing a unit with a promotion cost on top of a unit with the same character name as a unit you control (this uses the bottom of the two numbers in the top left-corner (the promotion cost) instead of the top number (the deploy cost)). *Note - Remember to keep in mind that a Class Change cost also counts towards the amount of units you may deploy in a single turn (in reference to the rules listed above). Whenever you class change a unit, you draw a card as a bonus for class changing. If there are any skills that activate on the instance of class changing, the bonus draw for class changing is prioritised before the skill activates. In the same turn, you can place down a unit and class change that unit, however, you have to pay for both deployment costs as two separate costs (placing down Marth cost 1, and then class changing him into Marth cost 4, these actions count as 4 bonds of deployment for the turn). A promoted unit (a card with a promotion cost) can also be played without using the promotion cost, using the normal regular deployment cost instead. However, they will not be considered class changed (class change skills do not become active) and you do not draw a card when they are played. You are allowed to class change your Lord with another promoted copy of your Lord. You can perform as much class changes as you want to your units on the field as much as you want (even during the same turn) and even draw a card each time you do it (as long as it is the same character with a promotion cost). But you must pay all the promotion costs as per usual for that turn (You can play down Cost 3/2 Ike on top of Cost 1 Ike and then place a Cost 6/4 Ike on top of the 3/2 Ike, but the amount of bonds needed for this is 6). The current card that remains on the top of a unit that is class changed or levelled up can only use the skills from the current card (the skills of the cards below the current unit do not take effect).

---Level Up and Other Deployment Rules---

[Level Up / Other Deployment Rules]

Levelling Up is similar to a Class Change, except you place a card with the same name without a promotion cost on top of a unit you control (Cost 1 Tiki -> Cost 5 Tiki). Unlike Class Change, you do not gain a class change bonus for levelling up (you don’t draw a card). You may level up your Lord just like any other unit (if your Lord whose higher level card has no promotion cost, you can only level up to get to that stage, the best example for this is Ranulf) Other Deployment Rules You may also ‘level down’ a unit by placing a unit with a lower cost on top of a unit you have on the field. This does not trigger class change bonus, unless the card itself has a promotion cost. The current stack of a unit you control is equal to the number of cards underneath that unit plus the card on top. If you have 4 Ike cards under your current Ike, his stack is 5, which allows Ike to use LvlS skills that have a requirement of 5 stacks.

Action Phase

The Action Phase consists of using the skills of your units (depending on the requirement and type of skill that a unit has, a Skill could be used in any phase, not just the Action Phase), moving your units from the front line to the back line and vice versa and attacking your opposing player’s units with yours. The player who starts the game cannot declare an attack.

---Notes on this Phase---

[Notes on the Action Phase]

While you’re considering what cards in your Bond Zone to flip-down for the cost of Skills keep in mind the following: Colour Restrictions on the kind of units you can play. When a bond is flipped face-down, you cannot return it face-up, without the use of a skill (currently, only Cost 3 Nowi can return a bond, even if face-down to your hand) Both players can look at either player’s face-down bonds at any time during the game. There are four different actions a unit can take during the Action Phase: Attack an enemy unit (requires the unit to be tapped to attack) Activate their Skills, if any can be activated Move to a different row (front line to back line or vice versa, which requires the unit to be tapped) Do nothing (you don’t actually have to do anything with a unit, it can be for the sake of being there) In order to move a unit, you must tap (rotate the card to a horizontal position from a vertical one) that unit (to signify that unit has performed an action) and then you may move the unit from the front line to the back line, or from the back line to the front line. You cannot move a unit that is already tapped, unless it is by a skill.

Battle Steps

• Declare an attack by selecting which unit is attacking (by tapping it) and selecting a legal target (within range) for the attack.
  • Skills that activate upon attacking with the unit activate, along with any skills that activate when the other unit is defending activate. Turn player decides the order.
• The attacking player will then flip the top card of their deck and place it in the support area, if the unit has an attack support skill it will activate now.
• The defending player will then flip the top card of their deck and place it in the support area, if the unit has a defensive support skill it will activate now.
  • The support power is added to the each respective card's power. Say, a Marth with 70 power is attacking and is supported by a Caede with 30 support power. Marth's power is now 100.

• A character may not support itself. Basically, a Chrom card may not support a Chrom, even if they are different cards, as long as the character is the same. If the card trying to support an attacker or defender is of the same character, then no power is added, nor any skills that activate when supporting activate.
• The attacking player may now choose to discard a card with the attacking character's name (may be a different card name, but still must be a card of the character). If they do so, then the attacker performs a "critical attack" and their power is doubled (including any powers given by game mechanics or effects, such as support power) until the end of the battle.
• The defending player may now choose to discard a card with the defending character's name (same rules as when going for a critical attack). If they do so, then the defender performs an "evasion" and the attack is nullified. What this means, is until the end of the battle, treat that unit as always having higher power than the attacking unit, regardless of circumstance.
• Now, the attacker's power is compared to the defender's power. If the attacker's power is greater or EQUAL to the defender's power, then the defender is destroyed by battle. If the defender has higher power, then nothing happens. The attacker does not get destroyed.
  • When a unit is destroyed by battle, if the unit is not a MC, then it goes into the retreat area. If the unit is a MC, then instead, the controlling player takes a card from their orb area and puts it into their hand.
    • IF THE PLAYER MUST TAKE A CARD FROM THEIR ORB AREA AND CANNOT DO SO DUE TO THERE BEING NO CARDS THERE, THEN THEY LOSE THE GAME!
    • Also, any effects that activate when the unit destroys a character in battle (which works when they defeat a MC, as well) and when a character is destroyed by an attack activate now, as well. Turn player decides the order.
• At this point, regardless of any outcome, the cards in the support area must now go to the retreat area.

End Phase

• After the player is done with their Action Phase, their turn ends and their opponent's turn begins. Any abilities that stop working at the end of the turn now do so.

Special Notes

• If all of your bonds are face-down, then you cannot deploy any units, just to be clear.
• Types of abilities:
  • ACT: When conditions are met, you may declare the usage of this ability during your Action Phase by paying the cost.
    • As long as the conditions are met and you can pay the cost, you may use this type of ability unlimited times a turn.
    • This counts as an action.
  • AUTO: When the timing is correct (such as the start of the turn or declaring an attack), this type of ability activates, and then, only once.
    • This ability is mandatory unless otherwise stated (it usually isn't mandatory, however).
  • CONT: When conditions are met (like it being your turn or having certain units on the field), this ability places a state on the game, like giving units power or abilities.
    • When no conditions are stated on the card, then it is always active.
• When a deck runs out of cards, the player takes their retreat area, shuffles it, and uses that as their new deck.There is no deckout in this game, nor any penalty for running out of cards in your deck.
  • This action must be immediately done and interrupts whatever is currently going on in the game. The game resolves as normal after the action is finished.
• To be clear on this as well, whenever two or more abilities activate at the same time, the player whose turn it is gets to choose the order in which those effects resolve.
• When an ability destroys a unit by battle, you may select a MC (as long as the MC is a legal target, naturally. For example, Camus can only select cost 2 or lower units, so if their MC is of a higher cost, then it would not be a legal target). If you select a MC in this way, then your opponent must add an orb to their hand, same as if it had lost a battle.
• When a player has no units on the vanguard during their opponent's turn, all of their rearguard will do a "Forced March" and move to the vanguard. This is mandatory.
  • This action will force all your units to be tapped.
  • You may move all of your vanguard units to the rearguard, to create a "forced march" at the end of your turn.
• When an attacking unit wins a battle against a MC and the unit has an effect active that allows the unit to break two orbs instead of one, then that player will NOT win if the defending player had one orb left before the attack, as the ability is to break orbs, rather than dealing damage.
• If you still feel nervous about the rules, then go and watch some games, have someone explain them to you, or better yet, play a game! You should be able to pick up the rules quickly enough.
  • You are free to ask questions at this subforum: http://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?showforum=86

The people there are awesome and you will get answers from the very people who make and run this very wiki, including people who play in actual tournaments in Japan.

This page is constantly updating, so be aware of any changes that may happen.