Beginner field guide

Learn your first SEA TCG match.

No TCG experience is required. Start with the five-minute walkthrough, then keep this page open beside the arena whenever you need a rule.

Start the walkthrough Open Play Lab

starting Integrity

cards in your opening hand

cards in a constructed deck

Five-minute walkthrough

Your first match

Choose two starter decks

Pick your deck and an opposing SEA Bot deck. Starter decks are free match templates; playing them does not give you NFT cards.

Review all seven cards

Your opening hand fills the screen. Look for two to five Sectors spread across your deck’s two colors. Keep it, or use your one Starter Lab mulligan for a new seven.

Build Aether

During Claim, place one Sector. During Deploy, selecting a playable card highlights the Sectors needed to pay for it. Confirm to let SEA commit them automatically.

Deploy Units

Units enter your Theater. Unless a Unit has Rapid Link, it cannot Engage on the same turn it was deployed.

Engage and defend

Choose your Ready attackers. The opponent may assign legal Interceptors. Reactions can be played after attackers and again before damage.

Win the match

Reduce the opponent from 20 Integrity to 0. You also win if the opponent must draw from an empty deck or concedes.

Beginner habit: before pressing Next, check the glowing cards and read the action message above your hand. The second Deploy phase lets you play cards you held back for Engagement.

The rhythm of play

Six phases, every turn

1 · Ready

Ready your committed cards, clear temporary combat changes, draw one card, and begin your turn.

2 · Claim

You may place one Sector or Breach from your hand. A Breach enters committed.

3 · Deploy

Play Units and other cards, Equip Gear, or activate available abilities. Ready Sectors can pay Aether costs.

4 · Engagement

Choose Ready Units to engage, allow Reactions, let the defender assign legal Interceptors, then resolve damage.

5 · Second Deploy

Use cards and Aether you held back before Engagement. This is your second chance to build your board.

6 · Recovery

Combat damage clears, unused Aether dissipates, and the other player begins their turn.

Aether does not carry into your next turn. Unspent Aether dissipates at Recovery, so save Ready Sectors—not floating Aether—when you want to threaten a Reaction.

Know what is in your hand

Seven card types

Sector

Your main source of Aether. Claim no more than one Sector or Breach during your Claim phase.

Breach

A special resource card that is claimed like a Sector but enters committed.

Unit

Your fighters. Units have Power and Defense and can Engage or Intercept when Ready.

Aethertech

Technology and Gear that remains in the arena. Gear can be Equipped to a Unit during either Deploy phase by paying its Equip cost.

Charm

A lasting support card whose rules modify play or trigger while it remains in your Theater.

Operation

A one-time action normally played during either of your Deploy phases. It resolves through the response stack, then goes to Salvage.

Reaction

A response card used only when you receive priority. Reactions may answer cards, abilities, attackers, or the final window before damage.

Reading a cost

Colored symbols require the matching Aether frequency. A number is generic and can be paid with any frequency. A dual-frequency Sector can generate one of its shown colors each time it is committed—not both.

Combat without guesswork

Engage, Intercept, resolve

1
Declare attackers
Select any number of eligible Ready Units, then confirm the attack. Each selected Unit becomes committed.
2
First Reaction window
The defender receives priority after attackers are declared. Players may add Reactions or pass.
3
Assign Interceptors
The defender selects an attacker, then a highlighted legal Ready Unit. Flight can be Intercepted only by Flight or Anti-Air.
4
Final Reaction window
After defense is confirmed, one final response window opens before damage.
5
Resolve damage
Unintercepted Power reduces player Integrity. Intercepted Units deal damage to one another; a Unit with damage equal to or above its Defense enters Salvage.

Damage is temporary unless a card says otherwise. Surviving Units clear Engagement damage during Recovery.

When both players can act

Priority and the response stack

Newest response resolves first

When a card or ability opens a response window, the player with priority may play a legal Reaction or Pass. A response is placed on top of the stack. After both players pass consecutively, the top item resolves. Continue until the stack is empty.

3Your counter-Reaction

2Opponent’s Reaction

1Original card or ability

If a Reaction targets something in the arena, choose the highlighted card directly. Counter cards target the matching opposing item on the stack. You may generate Aether from Ready Sectors while you have response priority.

Where every card belongs

Read the arena at a glance

Deck

Face-down draw pile. Running out when required to draw loses the match.

Hand

Private cards available to Claim, Deploy, or use as Reactions.

Sectors

Claimed resource cards. A committed Sector has already generated Aether.

Theater

Your deployed Units and lasting support cards.

Attached Gear

Displayed beneath its equipped Unit so both players can inspect the enhancement.

Salvage

Destroyed and spent cards. Some effects can return cards from here.

Inspecting cards: on desktop, hover for a larger preview and use the magnifier for full zoom. On mobile, tap a non-actionable card or press and hold a hand card to open the reader.

Templates versus collection

Decks and NFT ownership

Starter Play Lab

The nine 60-card starter decks are free templates for learning and testing. Using one does not place those cards in your Binder and does not award NFTs.

Owned constructed decks

Owned decks use eligible card NFTs recorded in your SN Binder. A constructed deck contains exactly 60 cards, with no more than four copies of a non-Basic card.

Buying a single, opening a pack, completing a draft, or receiving a valid transfer can move an issued card into your Binder. SEA validates the exact owned item instances when you save or enter with a deck; SN remains the ownership record.

Fast reference

Words you will see

Aether: The resource used to pay card and ability costs. The five frequencies are Amber, Azure, Crimson, Umbral, and Verdant.
Generic cost: A number in a cost. It may be paid with any Aether frequency.
Ready: Upright and available to act or generate Aether.
Committed: Already used. A committed card cannot be used again until an effect or the next Ready step readies it.
Integrity: Your health total. Each player begins at 20. If yours reaches 0, you lose.
Engage: Send a Ready Unit to attack. Engaging commits that Unit.
Intercept: Assign a legal Ready Unit to defend against an engaging Unit.
Rapid Link: The Unit may Engage on the same turn it is deployed.
Flight: A flying attacker can be Intercepted only by a Unit with Flight or Anti-Air.
Anti-Air: Allows a Unit to Intercept Units with Flight.
Preemptive: This Unit deals Engagement damage before a Unit without Preemptive. A destroyed Unit does not deal its later damage.
Breakthrough: Excess damage beyond an Interceptor’s remaining Defense is dealt to the defending player’s Integrity.
Siphon: When this Unit hits an opposing player without being Intercepted, its controller gains that much Integrity.
Salvage: The discard area. Destroyed Units and resolved one-time cards are placed here.
Scuttle: Move one of your eligible cards from the arena to Salvage to pay or resolve an effect.
Priority: The current opportunity to play a Reaction or pass.
Stack: Pending cards and abilities. The newest response resolves first.

Ready to learn at the table?

Start against the SEA Bot. Glowing cards show legal actions, the phase message tells you what needs attention, and this guide remains available from the arena menu.

Play your first match

PRE-ALPHA rules notice: Card text controls when it conflicts with this beginner guide. Features and balance may change during testing; the website guide will track the currently released SEA rules engine.