Cards

Bank a Braincell. Spend Braincells to play other cards, or to buy 30 seconds of clock.

Freeze an enemy piece until after their next turn.

Your pawns may retreat one square straight back this turn (no capture).

Sacrifice one of your pieces, then take two extra moves this turn.

Your opponent loses one Braincell from their pile.

Return every Braincell in your discard pile to your Braincells pile.

Bank every Braincell card in your hand, each worth two, but your opponent sees your whole hand until your next turn.

The next card you play costs one fewer Braincell (to a minimum of zero).

Put out the fire on one of your own pieces.

Discard two other cards to destroy an enemy piece outright.

You don't have to discard down to your hand limit at the end of this turn.

Your opponent brings back a captured piece of their choice. You get your most recently captured piece back.

Give one of your kings or pawns the ability to step onto a wall square, breaking the wall, for the next few turns.

Take one additional move this turn.

Fit armor to one of your pawns. It can't be captured until an opponent breaks the armor with a Weapon.

A piece moves like a Pawn for this turn: two squares if it hasn't moved yet, en passant, and it promotes on the last rank.

Point at a square. Any trap or wall there is destroyed, but you'd better be right, or the card is wasted.

Return your opponent's most recently captured piece to the board, and gain 3 Braincells.

Take every Braincell in your discard pile back into your hand.

Look at your opponent's hand for the rest of your turn.

Your king moves like a Pawn for this turn.

Protect one of your pieces from capture until after your next turn.

Your pawns may also step sideways one square this turn (no capture).

Look at the top card of your draw pile.

Instant. Put out the fire on one of your pieces, even on your opponent's turn, before it burns down.

Instant

Doesn't use your card for the turn. Gain 3 Braincells that must be spent this turn.

Unfreeze one of your own frozen pieces.

Take 30 seconds off your opponent's clock.

Pawns may move one additional square forward this turn.

Protect one of your pieces from capture for two full turns.

Also costs a card from your hand, one of your pieces, and a piece back to your opponent. Take three extra moves.

Break the armor off one of your opponent's pieces, leaving it open to capture again.

Kill an enemy pawn, knight, or bishop outright. Cheap, but only the small pieces are exposed enough to reach.

Discard two cards at random from your hand, then take any one card of your choice out of your discard pile.

Face down: trap the whole a-file. The first enemy piece to land anywhere on it is frozen for two turns.

Active

Face down: trap the whole b-file. The first enemy piece to land anywhere on it is frozen for two turns.

Active

Face down: trap the whole c-file. The first enemy piece to land anywhere on it is frozen for two turns.

Active

Face down: trap the whole d-file. The first enemy piece to land anywhere on it is frozen for two turns.

Active

Face down: trap the whole e-file. The first enemy piece to land anywhere on it is frozen for two turns.

Active

Face down: trap the whole f-file. The first enemy piece to land anywhere on it is frozen for two turns.

Active

Face down: trap the whole g-file. The first enemy piece to land anywhere on it is frozen for two turns.

Active

Face down: trap the whole h-file. The first enemy piece to land anywhere on it is frozen for two turns.

Active

Face down: trap the whole of rank 1. The first enemy piece to land anywhere on it is frozen for two turns.

Active

Face down: trap the whole of rank 2. The first enemy piece to land anywhere on it is frozen for two turns.

Active

Face down: trap the whole of rank 3. The first enemy piece to land anywhere on it is frozen for two turns.

Active

Face down: trap the whole of rank 4. The first enemy piece to land anywhere on it is frozen for two turns.

Active

Face down: trap the whole of rank 5. The first enemy piece to land anywhere on it is frozen for two turns.

Active

Face down: trap the whole of rank 6. The first enemy piece to land anywhere on it is frozen for two turns.

Active

Face down: trap the whole of rank 7. The first enemy piece to land anywhere on it is frozen for two turns.

Active

Face down: trap the whole of rank 8. The first enemy piece to land anywhere on it is frozen for two turns.

Active

Stays in play. Your hand limit goes up by two.

Active

A piece moves like a Bishop for this turn.

Discard two cards at random from your hand, then resurrect your most recently captured piece where it fell.

Freeze an enemy piece until after their next two turns.

Teleport a piece anywhere along its current diagonal.

Reveal and destroy every trap your opponent has placed. Does nothing if they have none.

Destroy your opponent's most recent active card.

Take the most recently discarded card from your own discard pile into your hand.

Doesn't use your card for the turn. Gain 5 Braincells that must be spent this turn.

Every piece on the chosen file slides one square toward rank 1. A piece pushed off the edge is captured.

Every piece on the chosen rank slides one square toward the a-file. A piece pushed off the edge is captured.

Every piece on the chosen rank slides one square toward the h-file. A piece pushed off the edge is captured.

Every piece on the chosen file slides one square toward rank 8. A piece pushed off the edge is captured.

Send one of your pieces off the board to the margin. It's safe there but can't act until you Rally it back or someone Closes the Border.

Instant. Freeze an enemy piece until after their next turn. Catch the piece they were about to move.

Instant

Instant. Protect one of your pieces from capture until after your next turn. Play it the moment your opponent lines up a threat.

Instant

Freeze an enemy piece until a Thaw card frees it.

Unfreeze all of your own frozen pieces at once.

Protect one of your pieces from capture until it next moves.

For the next two turns, every move you make is echoed by the piece on the opposite side of the board making the mirrored move, when that move is legal for it.

Teleport a piece anywhere along its current rank.

Turn the four centre squares a quarter turn counter-clockwise. The rest of the board stays put.

Turn the four centre squares a quarter turn clockwise. The rest of the board stays put.

A piece moves like a King for this turn.

A piece moves like a Knight for this turn.

Your opponent can't spend Braincells on their next turn: no costed cards. They can still bank a Braincell.

Stays in play. Once on each of your turns, trigger it to spend 30 seconds of your clock and draw a card.

Active

Raise your opponent's most recently killed piece back to life on their side, and gain 3 Braincells for the favor.

Stays in play. Every Braincell you bank from now on is worth two.

Active

An enemy piece moves like a Pawn on your opponent's next turn.

Return your opponent's most recently captured piece to the board, and take an extra move this turn.

Bring your longest-marched piece back onto the square it left, if that square is empty.

Place one of the pieces you've turned with Defector onto an empty square, fighting for you now.

Look at the top three cards of your draw pile and put them back in any order.

A piece moves like a Rook for this turn.

Sacrifice one of your own pieces to take the top card of your discard pile into your hand.

Search your own discard pile for a specific card and take it into your hand.

Swap the positions of two of your own pieces.

Sacrifice one of your own pieces, then resurrect your most recently captured piece where it fell.

Teleport a piece anywhere along its current file.

Tear down every wall on the board.

Whatever opponent piece is on f5 becomes their king for this turn.

Take one Braincell from your opponent's pile onto your own.

Open the rank or file just outside one edge of the board. Pick a square on the board's border; the ground beyond it becomes playable for the rest of the game.

Place a face-down claymore aimed at a square beside it. The first piece to land there, yours or theirs, dies; a king loses the game.

Every piece in the margin, yours and your opponent's, is captured.

Pick two of your opponent's knights, bishops or rooks of the same type and pile one onto the other. They now need two turns to bring both back into play.

The piece your opponent captured most recently switches sides: set aside, recolored as yours, ready to be reanimated.

An enemy knight, bishop or rook becomes a pawn.

Take two additional moves this turn.

Stays in play. Every other card you play costs one fewer Braincell, to a minimum of zero.

Active

Kill an enemy rook or queen outright.

Search your opponent's discard pile for a specific card and take it into your hand.

Send all of your pieces back to their starting squares. A piece with no free home square stays put.

Set an enemy piece on fire. Unless it's doused, it burns to nothing in a couple of turns.

Resurrect a captured piece on the square it started the game on.

Resurrect your most recently captured piece where it last stood.

None of your non-king pieces can be captured this turn.

Place a face-down mine on an empty square. The first piece to move onto it, yours or theirs, is destroyed. A king that steps on it loses the game.

A piece moves like a Queen for the next two turns.

A piece moves like a Rook for the next two turns.

Curse your opponent: if they ever end a turn with an empty draw pile, they lose the game.

Curse your opponent: if they ever end a turn with no cards in hand, they lose the game.

Move one opponent piece to any empty square.

Every piece on the two chosen files slides one square toward rank 1. Pieces pushed off the edge are captured.

Every piece on the two chosen ranks slides one square toward the a-file. Pieces pushed off the edge are captured.

Every piece on the two chosen ranks slides one square toward the h-file. Pieces pushed off the edge are captured.

Every piece on the two chosen files slides one square toward rank 8. Pieces pushed off the edge are captured.

Turn the board's outer ring a quarter turn counter-clockwise. The rest of the board stays put.

Turn the board's outer ring a quarter turn clockwise. The rest of the board stays put.

Send a random card from your opponent's hand to their discard pile.

Stack one of your pieces onto another. They share the square; only the top one can move or be captured, so the piece underneath stays safe until it is gone.

Fit armor to any one of your pieces. It can't be captured until an opponent breaks the armor with a Weapon.

Whatever opponent piece is on d3 becomes their king for this turn.

A piece moves like a Queen for this turn.

Teleport a piece anywhere along its current rank, file, or diagonal.

Undo the last physical move made by either player and its results.

Undo the last card played by either player and its results.

Take the most recently discarded card from your opponent's discard pile into your hand.

Rotate the entire board 90° counter-clockwise. Every piece keeps its owner but moves to the rotated square.

Rotate the entire board 90° clockwise. Every piece keeps its owner but moves to the rotated square.

Your king moves like a Bishop for this turn.

Whatever opponent piece is on e6 becomes their king for this turn.

Your king moves like a Knight for this turn.

Your king moves like a Rook for this turn.

Place a face-down trap on an empty square. The first enemy piece to move onto it is destroyed. Kings step over it unharmed.

Whatever opponent piece is on c6 becomes their king for this turn.

Swap the positions of two of your opponent's pieces.

Every piece on the board slides one square toward rank 1. Pieces pushed off the edge are captured.

Every piece on the board slides one square toward the a-file. Pieces pushed off the edge are captured.

Every piece on the board slides one square toward the h-file. Pieces pushed off the edge are captured.

Every piece on the board slides one square toward rank 8. Pieces pushed off the edge are captured.

Build a wall on an empty square. Pieces can't move onto it or slide through it. Only a piece with Jump can break past. It crumbles after a few turns.

Double the number of Braincells in your pile.

Open the ground just outside the board beside one of your border pieces and march that piece onto it. This is your move for the turn.

Cycle the board's four quadrants one step counter-clockwise. Each quadrant moves as a block; pieces keep their place within it.

Cycle the board's four quadrants one step clockwise. Each quadrant moves as a block; pieces keep their place within it.

Instant. Undo the last card played, yours or your opponent's, even on their turn.

Instant

Kill any enemy piece outright. There is no saving it.

Send every piece on the board back to its starting square. Pieces with no free home square stay put.

Send two random cards from your opponent's hand to their discard pile.

Destroy an enemy piece outright. There is no saving a piece that's been struck.

Instant. Destroy an enemy piece now, even on your opponent's turn. Stays in play; on a later turn of yours, trigger it to destroy a second.

Instant · Active

Take two Braincells from your opponent's pile onto your own.

Fold the board top to bottom. Where two pieces share a square, the more valuable survives and the lesser is captured; a tie leaves both. Kings are untouched.

Undo the entire last turn as if it never happened.

Bring your own most recently killed piece back to life, where it fell.

Rotate the entire board 180° counter-clockwise. Every piece keeps its owner but moves to the rotated square.

Rotate the entire board 180° clockwise. Every piece keeps its owner but moves to the rotated square.

Rotate the entire board 270° counter-clockwise. Every piece keeps its owner but moves to the rotated square.

Rotate the entire board 270° clockwise. Every piece keeps its owner but moves to the rotated square.

Your king moves like a Queen for this turn.

Every piece except kings and pawns is removed from the board. Removed pieces are captured.

Send all of your opponent's pieces back to their starting squares. A piece with no free home square stays put.

Swap the positions of any two pieces on the board.

Ch. 1, Peek: see your opponent's hand this turn. Ch. 2, Drain: take one Braincell from them. Ch. 3, Breakthrough: double your Braincells, then discard.

Active

Take your opponent's entire hand into yours. You must discard down to the hand limit before you can end your turn.

Every piece except the two kings is removed from the board. Removed pieces are captured.