How to play Travel Earth TCG

1. Objective & decks

You lose when you have no Animals anywhere on your field and Last Resort Sacrifice exhausts your Reservoir without stopping the Challenger. An empty Reservoir alone is not a loss while you still have field Animals to defend with.

Running out of Deck or Hand cards does not cause a loss. Keep playing with your remaining field Animals and Reservoir.

Deck construction

• Casual/open-play deck: 20 or more cards.
• Championship deck: exactly 60 cards.
• No more than four copies of the same common name and collector number. Alternate-art, foil, promotional, and First Edition versions count together.
• This guide describes a two-player game.

2. The six battle statistics

Compare one statistic at a time using the official printed values. Maximum Depth is educational species information, not a battle statistic.

3. Setup

1. Use a coin flip to determine who goes first.
2. Shuffle each legal Deck. Each player draws 3 cards.
3. Player 2 places the top card of their Deck face down into their Reservoir, without either player looking at it.

Player 2’s free starting card does not count against their first-turn Reservoir addition. Both players may add a card from Hand during their first turn. Player 1 draws normally on their first turn.

4. Field & Reservoir

Two rows, unlimited Animals

Your field has a Ready Row and a Resting Row. There is no maximum number of Animals on the field.

• Ready: Animals may challenge or defend.
• Resting: Animals may defend, but cannot challenge.
• Newly played Animals enter the Resting Row. They can defend immediately, but cannot challenge that turn.
• At the start of your turn, move your Resting Animals to the Ready Row.

Full & Empty Reservoir cards

Reservoir cards stay face down. Upright means Full; sideways means Empty. Your Reservoir can contain at most 6 cards total, counting both Full and Empty cards.

At the start of your turn, refresh all Empty Reservoir cards to Full. After drawing and before playing Animals, you may add up to 1 card from Hand to your Reservoir. You cannot add a card when you already have six. If a card is discarded from your Reservoir, you may replenish it during a later turn’s normal addition.

Each Challenger costs 1 Full Reservoir card, turned sideways to Empty as that challenge resolves. A defensive statistic change permanently discards a Reservoir card instead.

5. Turn sequence

1. Ready: move your Resting Animals to the Ready Row.
2. Refresh: turn your Empty Reservoir cards Full.
3. Draw: use the Hand-size table below.
4. Add to Reservoir: optionally add up to 1 card from Hand, without exceeding 6 Reservoir cards.
5. Play Animals: place Animals from Hand into your Resting Row.
6. Declare Challengers: choose your complete group of Ready Animals before resolving any challenges.
7. Challenge Phase: resolve the declared Challengers one at a time.
8. End turn: pass to the other player. There is no end-of-turn Hand refill.

Start-of-turn draw

If fewer cards remain in your Deck, draw only what remains. Never reshuffle the Discard Pile into the Deck. Once the Deck is empty, you stop drawing and continue playing. There is no maximum Hand size.

6. Declare & resolve challenges

You have one Challenge Phase per turn. Declare your complete Challenger group first; it is then locked. You cannot add another Challenger after seeing earlier results.

• Only Ready Animals can be declared. Each may challenge once during that phase.
• You must have 1 Full Reservoir card for each declared Challenger. With 2 Full Reservoir cards, you may declare at most 2 Challengers.
• Resolve the group one Animal at a time, Emptying 1 Full Reservoir card for each Challenger.
• The Challenger chooses the battle statistic. The defending player then chooses an Animal from either field row as the Defender.
• Animals in Hand cannot be played during the opponent’s challenge.
• A surviving Challenger becomes Resting after its challenge resolves.

Ready Defender

Discard the losing Animal. Defending does not make a Ready Animal Rest; a surviving Ready Defender may defend again.

If the comparison ties, use another eligible unused statistic. If all six statistics are exhausted in a normal tie, discard the Challenger and end the turn.

7. Resting Defenders

A Resting Animal can defend, including an Animal just played from Hand. Its Resting penalty applies even after a defensive statistic change.

A Resting Defender’s tie does not proceed to another statistic and does not discard the Challenger.

8. Defensive statistic change

The defending player may permanently discard 1 Full or Empty Reservoir card to change the comparison to another eligible unused statistic. This card leaves the Reservoir; it is not merely turned Empty.

Use a defensive change only when the new statistic can actually win. If no eligible statistic can win, accept the loss instead of spending a Reservoir card.

A tie after a defensive statistic change discards both active Animals when the Defender is Ready. The Resting Defender rule takes precedence: a Resting Defender that ties or loses is the only Animal discarded; if it wins, both Animals are discarded.

9. Last Resort Sacrifice

Last Resort is available only when the defending player has zero Animals anywhere on their field. Having only Resting Animals does not qualify; those Animals can defend.

Reveal a random Reservoir card to defend against the Challenger. If it fails to stop the Challenger, discard it and continue with another random Reservoir card while any remain.

If a Last Resort Animal wins, it stops the Challenger, which is discarded. Return the winning Animal face down to the Reservoir and shuffle it back in.

You lose if your Reservoir is exhausted without stopping the Challenger and you have no field Animals to defend with. Having zero Reservoir cards by itself is not a loss, and neither an empty Deck nor an empty Hand causes a loss.

10. Quick reminders

• 3-card starting Hands; Player 1 draws on their first turn.
• Player 2’s unknown starting Reservoir card is separate from their normal addition.
• Unlimited field Animals; maximum 6 Reservoir cards.
• Add to the Reservoir after refresh and draw, before playing Animals.
• Lock the Challenger group before resolving; pay 1 Full Reservoir per Challenger.
• Resting Animals can defend. Last Resort requires an entirely empty field.
• More specific card text overrides a general rule.