How to play Duelo Folclórico

Duelo Folclórico is a turn-based collectible card game for two Summoners. Each brings a deck of 30 cards, starts with 30 Memory, and wins when the opponent's Memory reaches zero. A match takes a few minutes, runs in the browser and is free.

What is the goal of the game

Reduce the opposing Summoner's Memory, which starts at 30, to zero. There is no health and no wounding in Duelo Folclórico: what you attack is the remembrance that keeps legends alive. When a Summoner's Memory hits zero, they forget their own legends and the match ends.

How to build a deck

Before duelling you need a legal deck. These are the construction rules:

Exactly 30 cards, counting duplicate copies.
At most 2 copies of the same card — and only 1 copy if the card is Primordial.
One main pantheon, which decides the Favour you use during the match.
At most one secondary pantheon. A third folklore in the same deck is illegal.
Cards from the secondary pantheon cost +1 Faith to summon — people hesitate to believe in a legend from a distant land.
Divinity and Primordial cards only come in through the main pantheon: the mightiest legends are not lent out.

How a match begins

Who plays first is decided at random. Both sides draw an opening hand of 4 cards and begin with 1 Faith. The player going first does not draw on turn one; the player going second draws normally when their turn opens — that is the compensation for answering second.

The turn, step by step

Summoners alternate. A turn always runs in this order:

Your maximum Faith rises by one, up to a cap of 10, and your available Faith is refilled completely.
You draw a card from the top of your deck.
The start-of-turn effects of your creatures on the field trigger.
You play cards as far as your Faith pays, in any order. Creatures stay on the field; spells resolve at once and go to the graveyard.
You attack with the creatures able to attack this turn.
You end the turn. Everything that lasted "until end of turn" expires on both sides of the field.

The field holds 7 creatures per side, and a hand holds 10 cards.

Faith: the game's resource

Faith pays for every summon. It starts at 1, rises by one each turn up to a cap of 10, and refills completely at the start of each of your turns — it does not carry over. The cost printed on a card is its cost through the main pantheon; through the secondary, add +1.

Memory, fatigue and running out of deck

Memory starts at 30 and only goes down. Creature damage, spell damage and fatigue all draw from the same pool.

When your deck runs out and you still have to draw, fatigue sets in: instead of a card you lose Memory, and the toll grows with every attempt — 1, then 2, then 3. A long match ends in fatigue, not on the field.

With a full hand (10 cards), the card you draw is burned: it goes straight to the graveyard, in plain sight of both players.

How combat works

A creature attacks an enemy creature or the Summoner directly. When it attacks a creature, both are hurt at once — the attacker takes the defender's <strong>counterattack</strong>. Three keywords change who can be attacked:

Guardião — while a visible Guardião stands on the enemy field, attacks are forced onto it. Not the Summoner, not another creature.
Oculto — a hidden creature is not a legal target until it acts, and the attack it leaves hiding with takes no counterattack.
Ímpeto — the creature attacks the same turn it enters, but creatures only on that turn. If there is no attackable enemy creature, the charge goes straight at the Summoner.

The Sun and Moon cycle

A day-and-night cycle runs over the whole duel. It is 6 turns per round: 3 of Solar phase and 3 of Lunar phase. The match opens in Solar.

Solar creatures gain +1/+1 while it is day; Lunar ones while it is night — and +2/+2 instead of +1/+1 if the card is Primordial. Effects marked with a phase only act inside it.

Some celestial cards — Guaraci, Amaterasu, Jaci, Nyx, Apollo, Baldr, Artemis, Tsukuyomi — drag the sky when they enter: the phase they bring starts that turn and holds for the full 3 turns. They shift the cycle; they do not change the rule.

The Tomb

The Tomb is a second zone, where a card waits instead of being lost. Two keywords work with it: Offering sends a card from your hand to the Tomb so the creature enters with +2/+2, and Servant can be played straight from the Tomb for 1 less Faith. It is the signature of the Egyptian pantheon, which does not accept death as an ending.

The pantheon's Favour

Each folklore offers its Summoner two Favours, and the deck picks one of them. A Favour costs 1 or 2 Faith, depending on which it is, and can be used once per turn. It is the card you always hold, even when your hand is empty — and it is the main reason to pick one main pantheon over another.

Each pantheon's two Favours are designed as a choice between consistency and scale: one does a little every turn, the other accumulates value as the match drags on.

The keywords

There are 10, and each has its own page with the fine print and the list of cards that carry it.

Despertar: Effect when it enters play.
Legado: Effect when it dies.
Guardião: Enemies must attack it before the Summoner.
Ímpeto: Can attack the turn it enters play — but only creatures on that turn. If there is no enemy creature, it attacks the Summoner.
Oculto: Cannot be targeted until it acts. Its attack out of hiding takes no strike back.
Solar: +1/+1 while it is day — +2/+2 if Primordial. Effects with a Solar phase only trigger during the day.
Lunar: +1/+1 while it is night — +2/+2 if Primordial. Effects with a Lunar phase only trigger at night.
Fervor: At the start of each of your turns, gain extra Faith (that turn only). It starts on your NEXT turn — not the turn the card enters play.
Offering: On entering play, you may send 1 card from your hand to the Tomb. If you do, this creature enters with +2/+2.
Servant: Can be played from the Tomb, paying 1 less Faith. When it dies, it goes to the graveyard like any other card.

See all 10 keywords →

The rarities

Rarity tells you how hard a card is to get and how many copies of it fit in a deck.

Tale: Up to 2 copies per deck — The bottom step: what gets passed around by word of mouth, with no proper name and no cult. These are the cheap cards that hold up a deck's curve in the early turns.
Legend: Up to 2 copies per deck — The entity that already has a name and a fixed story. This is the middle of the deck — a body on the field with an effect of its own.
Myth: Up to 2 copies per deck — The figure a whole culture recognises. It costs more, it does more, and it tends to turn the table when it lands.
Divinity: Up to 2 copies per deck — A god with a cult and a domain. It only comes in through the deck's main pantheon — a divinity is not lent to someone else's folklore.
Primordial: Up to 1 copy per deck — The force that existed before history. One single copy per deck, main pantheon only, and the phase bonus counts double: +2/+2 instead of +1/+1.

See the rarity ladder →

Where to play

In your browser, free, on a phone or a computer — nothing to install. When you create an account you choose your debut pantheon, receive the starter deck, and the guided tutorial teaches the duel step by step. There is also a full in-game guide that pays Eternal Flames when you finish it.

Create an account and play — it is free Browse all 481 cards in the game →